The Devilish Adventures of Shintaro Hyoudou
by Anime PJ
Summary: Shintaro Hyoudou, the class clown, the younger brother of the school's most infamous pervert. When he and his brother are killed one night, they'll both be dragged into a supernatural world that neither knew existed yet both seem important to for different reasons. How will the two of them go about surviving as Devils when everyone seems to want a piece of them? Ise/Harem OC/Harem
1. I Die

**Happy Halloween, Constant Readers! I was originally going to save this until I had more chapters written up, but since it's Halloween and this story is about Devils, I figured it'd be thematically appropriate. Enjoy!**

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**VOLUME 1: SHINTARO HYOUDOU VS. FALLEN ANGELS**

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**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

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I Die

I fed some grass into my pocket and petted the hamster that I had nestled in there. He was a chubby little guy thanks to all the feeding he got throughout the day, but damn if that didn't make him cuter somehow. I grinned to myself at the thought of the ruckus this little guy was going to cause over the next week.

"You're such a child," said my best friend in that adorably monotone voice of hers, rolling her eyes. "What makes you think stealing the class pet is a good idea?"

"What makes me think _anything _is a good idea, Koneko-chan?" I asked. I pushed my glasses up my face with a single finger. "It's going to be fucking _hilarious_. As soon as everyone realises he's gone, _boom_, instant inner-classroom anarchy! I think I'll keep him for the week, see how long I can keep this up for. See just how worried people will get."

Koneko-chan sighed. "You're an idiot, Shin-kun."

My name is Shintaro Hyoudou, and what you're reading is me telling you how I became a massive supernatural badass. In the beginning, as you're seeing here, I was 16 years old and a first-year at Kuoh Academy, a school that had only a year ago become coed. Before that, it was an all-girl school, so the boy-girl ratio is still _massively _imbalanced in favour of the girls. Not that I'm complaining about being surrounded by ladies all day. I was a slim boy with pale skin, a stark contrast to the fair skin tone of the rest of my family. My eyes were an icy blue and my hair was jet black and spiked up in all directions. My eyes were framed in a pair of glasses. My face sported an amused grin most of the time; I had long since learned to find just about everything funny. I was wearing the boys' school uniform in a somewhat lazy, thrown-on fashion, with the black blazer with white highlights hanging open, the top three buttons of the white shirt unbuttoned, the black ribbon hanging loosely around the collar, black trousers that were just a little too tight for me, and brown shoes that were worn from all the running from pissed off authority figures I did.

Koneko Toujou-chan was a small girl, given she was the same age as I. Her white hair looked longer from the front than it actually was on account of the two bangs drooping past her shoulders, whereas the rest of her hair stopped at the neck, and she wore two black cat-shaped hair clips, one on either side of her head. She had remarkably pretty hazel eyes. She wore the girls' uniform, obviously, which consisted of a white shirt with a thin black ribbon, a black button-down corset with white highlights, a thigh-length magenta skirt with white highlights, and a pair of brown shoes. There was usually a shoulder cape to match the corset, but Koneko-chan chose not to wear that.

"Aww, don't be like that, Koneko-chan," I whined. "You're an essential part of my act! The straight girl to my agent of chaos."

"You mean I'm the one who stops you from getting into trouble," she said.

"That, too," I admitted. "But come on, even _you _can't deny that my escapades are all the more entertaining with you around to look disappointed."

"… Yeah, I just 'look' disappointed."

"That hurts, Koneko-chan. That _really _hurts. Where would I be without my best girl?"

It was a rare moment of triumph for me when I got some red to appear on that stoic face of hers. She would never admit to being embarrassed by my words, but I could see it. "Idiot," she muttered, looking away from me.

"You know you love me."

"Whatever you say." She saw them at the same time as I did and gave the tiniest of grimaces. "I need to go. Club activities. Have fun with your pervert brother and his pervert friends."

"I will. See ya!"

As Koneko-chan walked away, I walked towards my brother Issei Hyoudou and his two friends, Matsuda-san and Motohama-san. Better known around Kuoh Academy as the Perverted Trio. A well-earned title, you can be sure.

Matsuda-san had shaved hair that just barely showed atop his head and squinted so tightly that his eyes weren't visible. He wore the school uniform normally, but with the blazer unbuttoned. He was known around school as "Perverted Baldy" and "Sexual Harassment Paparazzi." From what Ise-nii told me, he used to be in a few different sport clubs but was in the photography club now.

Motohama-san was probably the most "normal" guy I've ever seen. He had thick black hair, a relatively normal face, and a pair of thick-framed glasses that constantly reflected the light, so his eyes couldn't be seen, either. He wore the school uniform absolutely perfectly, all buttoned up and everything. He was known around school as "Perverted Glasses" and "Three Sizes Scouter." He had this unusual and, from a certain viewpoint, cool ability to calculate a woman's three sizes just by looking at her. I remember thinking he would be a _terrifying _mathematician if he put that to use in other areas.

Then there was my older brother, Ise-nii, the most infamous pervert in school and the guy whose reputation I was slowly but steadily crawling out of. Our hair grew in similarly uncontrolled spikes, but that was just about the only physical feature we shared, for his hair was brown, as were his eyes. His skin was pretty normal in tone. He probably would have been considered quite good-looking if it wasn't for the expression of lechery that so often took hold of his face. He wore the school uniform with the shirt and blazer both completely open and a red T-shirt underneath, and he swapped out the brown shoes for white trainers.

The three of them were laying on the grass underneath a tree. I approached them with a smile on my face.

"Fuck off," Motohama-san said automatically as he noticed my approach. "I want you to maintain a distance of at least three feet of me at any given time."

"Aww, come on," I said playfully. "It wasn't _that _bad, was it?"

"You covered the lenses of my glasses with permanent marker, Hyoudou. Permanent. _Fucking_. Marker. Do you have any _idea _how much trouble it is to get that stuff out?"

"Sure I do. I tested it on my own first. _Duh_. What, did you think I'd do that if I wasn't sure you could get it off? I like a laugh, Motohama-san, but I draw the line at doing permanent damage to other people's property. I maintain a standard far above such things, you lowly swine, and I'll thank you to remember that." I made sure to grin to show it was just another joke. He had evidently taken the glasses thing more personally than intended.

"Chill out, Motohama," said Ise-nii. "It was just a prank. He does that shit all the time at home."

"And you can't say it wasn't funny," said Matsuda-san.

Motohama-san just grunted at them, but showed no more hostility to my approach.

"So, what's up, guys?" I asked, sitting down next to them. "Laying down in the hopes that your boners from all the fantasising you're doing will make little fleshy sun dials?"

"We're watching the track team when they run by," said Ise-nii.

As though on cue, a group of girls in the school sports gear jogged along on the part of the field nearest to us chanting "One two, one two!" as they went. I had to admit, the sweat making the clothes stick to their bodies added quite a bit of appeal to those clothes. Not that I would admit that out loud. If watching Ise-nii and his friends had taught me anything at all, it was that keeping sexual fantasies to yourself is an excellent way of surviving high school.

"Say, you hang out with Koneko Toujou, right?" Matsuda-san asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"You think you could introduce us?"

"I _could _… but I don't think you'd like where your balls end up."

"Huh?"

"Over there," I pointed to the left, "over there," I pointed to the right, "and up there," I pointed to the top of a nearby tree. "Koneko-chan would see you approaching and make sure your voice never reached any kind of depth ever again."

Matsuda-san stared at me in horror for a minute, then flopped back and groaned. "It's not fair! How did you get so lucky? You're only in your first year!"

"And yet we, your senpai, have been here for over a year now and don't even have one girl between us," Motohama-san whined.

"Why'd my otouto have to be the one born with a way with the ladies?" Ise-nii cried. It was comical.

"To be fair, guys, you might have started off wrong by letting the entire school know your intentions right from the start," I pointed out. "Women tend not to respond too well if you just tell them outright that your only interest is in sticking your genitals inside their genitals. Unless they're hookers, but in that case, I know a place just down the street where late at night—"

"Shut the hell up and stop making fun of us!" all three shouted at me at once.

"But it's so much _fun_," I argued, grinning.

Before anything else could be said, a soul-piercing, ear-destroying sound reverberated through the area. "_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_"

_Ah_, I thought. _The mating call of the most irritating of the female species on Planet Earth … fangirls. _A shudder rocked my body and I could tell that the other three were having similar feelings. Having fangirls sounded pretty fun, especially if you were a hormone-ridden teenage boy, but when they were someone else's … even I'll admit it got very grating on the nerves, and I wasn't even all that jealous of the guy they were squealing over.

Motohama-san growled. "Kiba Yuuto. Every girl in school wants to sex him up."

"And every guy wants to _mess _him up!" Matsuda-san added.

"That tool!" said Ise-nii. "I don't get it! Just 'cause he's hot, sexy, really smart, and the coolest guy in school, they all wanna rub up on Kiba!?"

"Life really does blow sometimes …" Motohama-san moped.

"No, you _wish _life would blow you," I said in a chipper tone. "So long as _someone's _doing it, you don't really care, right?"

"Shut the fuck up, Hyoudou."

"Oh shit!" Matsuda-san cried, standing up. "We're gonna be late!"

"Ah, onto the daily attempt to peep on the kendo girls, are we?" I asked rhetorically. I knew for a fact the answer would be yes. "I wonder where the bruises will be on you this time? Maybe they'll strip you so everyone can see the bruises as well as your pathetic little winkies. Hahaha, there are endless possibilities!"

"Whatever," said Matsuda-san.

"Yeah, there's no guarantee it'll happen this time," Motohama-san agreed, moving to follow him.

"I like the optimism, guys," I said. "Please, keep that up. The inevitable tragedy of your situation just enhances the comedy I experience from it."

"You're such a little shit," Ise-nii commented as he went with them.

"But you still love me!" I reminded him.

"Yep, and I still can't figure out why."

I laughed again as they walked away. Those three getting beaten up was always a golden opportunity for some laughs. And I knew for a fact the kendo team enjoyed doing it, so in a way, they were making a noble sacrifice to put a big smile on other people's faces. That sort of wilful self-humiliation is rare outside of idiots these days. Let it be known that despite their perversity, I didn't consider any of them idiots – Motohama-san's measurement ability spoke well of his mathematical potential, Matsuda-san was actually a pretty gifted athlete as well as having knowledge on shot composition and such for his photography, and Ise-nii … well, he didn't have any one particular skill _per se_, but he was actually incredibly kind and accepting of others and had the patience to put up with _me _as a little brother, so that speaks well of him.

I gathered some more grass and dumped it into my pocket for the hamster before I stood up. When their inevitable beating got the better of them, the Perverted Trio would regroup behind the Old School Building, which was a place nobody ever really bothered to go to except to gawk at the front of it. Not many schools have old, decrepit-looking buildings as part of the structure, I'm sure, so it was kind of a novelty to have it.

I reached the back of the Old School Building, a little patch of grass in the otherwise weed-infested area, and flopped out on the ground. I took the hamster from my pocket and put him down on my chest, petting him softly. He was a cute little guy. As I laid there idly petting the little fluffball, I could have sworn I saw Koneko-chan in one of the windows for a second, but as soon as I raised my hand to wave, she was gone. It was weird. _I'm probably seeing things, _I decided.

Pretty soon, Matsuda-san and Motohama-san crashed through the bushes, panting, and sat up against the wall of the building.

"So Ise-nii was the sacrificial lamb today, was he?" I said. "A wise strategy, leaving a friend behind. Like the saying goes, 'If you get attacked by a bear in the woods, you don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun the guy next to you.' A philosophy held primarily by psychopaths, sociopaths, and, most commonly, cowards. Which are you two, I wonder?"

"Cowards," they both said shamelessly.

"… Well, okay then."

"When those swords come out, Hyoudou, it's every man for himself," Motohama-san explained. "Ise would understand."

"And even if he don't … meh, fuck 'im," said Matsuda-san.

"Your sense of camaraderie is truly inspiring," I deadpanned.

Several minutes later, Ise-nii came barrelling through the bushes, too, only he was covered in red welts and bruises from where the kendo team had laid into him with their weapons. It wasn't the first time I'd seen this and I would be lying if I said I didn't find it just a _little _funny. Whereas with most people I would need to have very ill feelings towards them to take pleasure in their pain, sibling law decreed that Ise-nii and I are allowed to take pleasure in each other's suffering so long as no serious injuries are caused. Brothers are allowed to do that.

"You guys are assholes," he huffed at Matsuda-san and Motohama-san once he'd caught his breath.

"Oh look, he finally noticed," I said.

"Did you at least get to see some nip?" asked Motohama-san.

"No, I didn't get to see any nip!" Ise-nii snapped. "I was too busy getting beaten up with bamboo swords for looking through a tit hole _I didn't even get to look through _because of _you ass _… holes …" He trailed off as his gaze turned upwards, towards the decrepit-looking building beside us.

I followed his gaze and caught sight of one of the most popular girls in school making eye contact with my brother. She had the fairest skin I've ever seen, beautifully crimson red hair that dazzled the eyes, and blue-green eyes. She was wearing the girls' uniform in full, complete with the shoulder cape that Koneko-chan lacks, and it hugged her body tightly and left very little to the imagination. It was no wonder, really, that all the boys in school drooled over her. I was one of them – she was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen.

Almost as soon as she appeared, she vanished, walking away from the window.

"Rias Gremory," Motohama-san commented. "Thirty six, twenty four, thirty six. President of the Occult Research Club. Word is that she's from Northern Europe."

"Stupid sexy foreigners," I joked, though I was as captivated as they were.

"Redheads," Ise-nii hummed. "There's just something about redheads …"

"And brunettes," I said. "And blondes. Basically anything with tits as far as you're concerned, huh, Ise-nii?"

"Yep." His reply came without a hint of shame. I could almost respect it. Though I could tell by his tone that he wasn't all there.

We hung out there for a little while longer and I had more fun needling the three of them, but I got bored of that eventually and headed home ahead of Ise-nii. It was a peaceful walk, but every now and then, I couldn't help but get the feeling I was being followed.

* * *

My bedroom in the dear old Hyoudou household was built on what I'll fondly call "organised chaos." Posters from anime, movies, TV shows and other stuff I'm a fan of covered the walls, there was a bookshelf full of books, manga, comics, and DVDs, and most of my clothes and spare manga and such were scattered around on the floor, along with a bunch of other crap I'd accumulated over the years. Kaa-san always said it was a typical teenage boy's room. It made no difference to me, though; so long as I knew where everything was, I saw no real reason to clean.

A knock at my door got me groaning. I put the copy of Clive Barker's first _Books of Blood _volume on my bed and went to answer the door. It was Ise-nii. "'Sup, Broseph?" I asked.

"Uh, hey, Shin," he said awkwardly. It wasn't bad awkward. If anything, he looked excited, it was just that he couldn't find the words to say why at the moment. "Um … there's, uh … something happened and I …"

"Hey, is it just me or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" I asked.

"It's … it's not just you." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, man. I'm just … I'm _excited_. This is big news, man, real big news. I … I got a girlfriend."

I sighed. "Ise-nii, we've been over this. You can't date your right hand, it's just not anatomically possible."

"That's not what I meant, you little shit!" he said. I started laughing. "Okay, yeah, you go ahead and laugh it up. Just know that I got a girlfriend before you did! You hear that, Shin? _I have a girlfriend_. And the best part? She. Asked. Me."

"Really?" I asked, dropping the joke. "Fair play, bro. Looks like you might finally get your end away. So how'd it go down?"

"It was … kinda weird, actually," Ise-nii admitted. "She just sorta approached me on the way home. I've never seen this girl before, but she's super cute and she knows me. Says she's been interested for a while but just hasn't had the guts to approach until now. Honestly, it's like a dream come true. And no, before you say it, _not _the wet kind."

"I wasn't gonna say anything," I lied.

"Yeah, _sure _you weren't. But yeah, that's all I came to tell you. I got a girlfriend and I'm super psyched and I can't wait to rub it in Matsuda and Motohama's faces." He moved to leave, but just before he got the door closed, he paused and blinked at what he saw crawling around on one of my shelves. "When the hell did you get a hamster?"

* * *

In an unusual twist, I walked to school ahead of Ise-nii the following morning. He stayed behind so he could meet up with his girlfriend. I figured that was fair enough and went on ahead, but without him there the walk was just dull. I quickly started to miss the back and forth banter we would usually have where I was the one with the most legitimately witty remarks. Not being able to lord my smartassery over him made for a very boring morning, indeed.

"'Sup, fuckfaces?" I greeted as I bumped into Matsuda-san and Motohama-san by the school gates.

"Just waiting on your bro," said Matsuda-san.

… _Oh my God, he hasn't told them yet, _I realised as a grin grew on my face. _This is going to be HILARIOUS. _I didn't usually hang out with these two when my brother wasn't around and being seen doing so would no doubt damage my reputation a bit, but being related to Ise-nii already had a lot of girls looking at me with caution and, honestly, a few rumours floating about would be worth seeing the looks on their faces when Ise-nii told them what was up. So … fuck it.

Though as I caught sight of Ise-nii approaching, I very nearly burst out laughing before he could get to us. It was better than I could have hoped for.

_He had brought her with him!_

I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. Ise-nii had really caught himself a looker. She was an attractive girl with long, silky black hair that flowed all the way down to her hips, and violet eyes. She was from a different school, as evidenced by her uniform, which was made up of a red blazer with a golden P embroidered on the left breast, a white undershirt, a red bow, and a green skirt with a thin white highlight at the bottom. And my God, what a _body_. Even with that innocently friendly face, that body was _build _for sin.

Matsuda-san and Motohama-san were looking, too. They clearly saw how hot she was. I could hear the gears turning in their heads as they saw her coming, hand in hand with Ise-nii. And let me tell you, the looks of sheer despair that crossed their faces when the pieces finally fit together in their minds was _so much funnier _than I had envisioned.

"No …" Motohama-san muttered. "No … It isn't true …"

"This isn't possible …" Matsuda-san murmured.

"Search your feelings," I said, smirking at them. "You know it to be true."

"But … but …"

"Hey, guys," Ise-nii said as he and his girlfriend finally reached us. "I should've figured you'd stick around for this, Shin."

"You know me, bro," I said. "Always eager to partake in the suffering of others."

"I'm glad you're here, anyway. Now I can introduce you all." He gestured to the smoking hot girl next to him. "This is Yuuma Amano, my girlfriend."

Amano-san bowed. "It's nice to meet you all," she said politely.

"And as I told Shin last night," Ise-nii went on, drawing closer to his friends so he could whisper to them, "the best part: _She. Asked. Me._"

That seemed to be the final straw for the other two, as they crumpled to their knees and started wailing in shock and horror.

"Hey, stop whackin' it and maybe you'll find one, too," Ise-nii encouraged them.

… _I've been rubbing off on him, _I thought. I didn't know whether to be pleased or disappointed that he was picking up my schtick.

As Ise-nii and Amano-san walked off together, I decided to let Matsuda-san and Motohama-san wallow in self-pity alone. I could get a lot out of making fun of them, but this was just sad. Mocking them at this point would just be bullying needlessly, which I'm not a fan of. So I started walking to my own classroom. I got the usual looks when I walked through the halls. Some were amused, some were annoyed, and a select few were distrusting – not everyone believed I could be completely unlike Ise-nii due to him being the older brother and, therefore, the kind of "bad influence" that would have raised me into a sexual deviant. I ignored the latter two types and shot appreciative grins at those who smiled at me. I always appreciated when others were as entertained by my antics as I was.

See, whereas Ise-nii was infamous around school for his perversions, peeping on girls and the like, I danced to a different beat, though not everyone believed it. I've always put quite a lot of importance on having a sense of humour. No matter what happened, I wanted to keep on laughing and get as many people as possible laughing along with me. That's just who I am – I like to keep people smiling.

I made it to my homeroom and took my usual seat right next to Koneko-chan. I got some jealous glares from boys who were already in the room, but I just put up the peace sign at them and got on with life.

"Morning, Koneko-chan," I said happily. "How's my precious little Snow White this morning?"

"Ha-ha, a crack at my hair, so original of you," she drawled. "I'm doing okay. How are you?"

"I'm super!" I exclaimed. "I just got to witness soul-crushing despair being felt by two idiots. Can you believe my brother has a girlfriend? _I _can barely believe my brother has a girlfriend. And Matsuda-san and Motohama-san … they just don't _want _to believe my brother has a girlfriend. It makes them the most fun to watch."

"You should really stop to take a breath every now and then."

"Awww, you _do _care."

"Just trying to give the janitors less mess to clean up."

"You _wound _me, Koneko-chan. Truly you do."

Before anything else could be said, the bell rang to signal the start of the school day. All of us stood up to bow to the sensei when he came in, then sat back down again.

"Okay, class," he said, "before we get started, there's been a report from one of the other classrooms that their class pet has gone missing. God only knows what high schoolers are doing with a class pet, but whatever. It's a hamster. Be on the lookout."

I could feel Koneko-chan's eyes burning into the side of my head for the rest of the morning. It took all the willpower I had not to burst out laughing.

* * *

A few days past and the end of the week arrived. I was growing increasingly pleased with Ise-nii's good mood. Seeing him so happy made _me _happy. Ise-nii's happiness wasn't the only thing that had me in a good mood, either. This little hamster was growing on me. I was in the process of feeding the fluffy little guy, very nearly considering keeping him, when someone knocked on my door. I went to answer it and Ise-nii was standing there with a dopey grin on his face.

"I've got a date," he said excitedly. "Yuuma-chan and I are going out on Sunday."

"Nice one, bro," I said, slapping him a high five. "Enjoy yourself. And make sure you show that woman a good time, ya hear? All women are queens – remember that."

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya," he said. "Just figured I'd share the news with someone, so you can go back to … whatever it is you do in here. Frankly, considering the shit you're willing to do in public, I'm not sure I even wanna _know _what you require _privacy _for."

"Good. 'Cause if I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Whatevs. Night, bro."

"G'night," I said as I closed the door. Then I went and sat on my bed and got my phone. A golden opportunity had been presented to me, and I would be damned if I was going to waste it. I dialled the number I had somehow managed to coerce out of Koneko-chan near the start of the year and waited.

"What?" she asked when she picked up.

"Rhetorical question that I think you can already guess isn't rhetorical," I said. "How would you feel about accompanying me into town on Sunday with the purpose of spying on my brother and his girlfriend to see if he really knows how to treat a lady on a date? Plus, if I let slip details about his date to him in conversation that I shouldn't know, it'll freak him out and that'll be hilarious."

"…" She was quiet for long enough that I almost asked if she was okay. "I'll have to get back to you on that." Then she hung up.

I took the phone away from my ear and looked down on it in confusion and a little worry. That … didn't sound like a good sign.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Koneko stared down at her phone for a good few minutes after hanging up, wondering what the actual odds of this situation occurring were. They couldn't be particularly high because this was the mother of all coincidences as far as she was concerned.

"Buchou," she said, addressing Rias Gremory.

"Yes, Koneko?" Rias responded.

"That call I got just now was from Issei Hyoudou's little brother."

"Ah, yes, 'Shin-kun.'" Rias said teasingly. Normally, this was the sort of thing Akeno would be doing, but Rias could indulge herself every now and then. Especially since opportunities to make Koneko blush had been so rare until she'd met that boy in the first year. "What was it about?"

"He asked me if I want to spy on his brother's date with him on Sunday."

Rias was gobsmacked. "That … is an _amazing _coincidence," she remarked. "An opportunity to follow Issei Hyoudou by spending time with his brother … Honestly, the odds of this are amazing."

"So, should I say yes?"

"Yes. Though make sure to keep your distance, we don't want the Fallen Angel catching on. And it if looks like she's going to make a move … get out of there. We can't interfere over a human, it would just risk too much hostility."

"Of course, Buchou." Koneko took her phone out and redialled Shintaro's number. He must have still had it on hand from when she hung up, because he answered in barely a second.

"Hello?" he said. There was a tinge of nervousness to his voice that she wasn't very familiar with.

"Hi," she said. "Sure, I'll go with you. I just had to check something first, was all."

"Wait, really?" There was relief in his voice now. "That's great! So, I'll meet you in town on Sunday. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good. See you then."

"Bye, Koneko-chan!"

He hung up that time, and now it was Koneko staring down at her phone with mixed feelings. He sounded so excited to be spending time with her outside of school, and not just over following his brother and that Fallen Angel around. The joy in his voice was making her feel really bad about using his invitation like this. Maybe Rias and the others were right, maybe she really _was _closer to that idiot than she was letting on …

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

I made sure to keep out of Ise-nii's sight as I followed him into town on Sunday. I waited five or so minutes after he left the house to go after him. I had caught sight of him a couple of times, but always made sure I was keeping enough distance and never showed myself if he was facing my direction for whatever reason. I had dressed in some casual clothes: a dark khaki shirt, a snow-coloured jacket, firebrick trousers, and blanched almond shoes. I may have, admittedly, gone a bit overboard with my appearance considering what today's objective was, but I was hanging out with Koneko-chan outside of school, so I wanted to look nice.

I got to the middle of town and Ise-nii stopped, so I did, too. I once again made sure to keep out of sight. I settled down in a nearby cafe, which was also where Koneko-chan and I had agreed to meet up, so it worked out well, really.

After about ten minutes, I realised just how early for his date Ise-nii must have arrived. That was a good start. Better to be ten minutes early than five minutes later, that's what I always say, especially when it comes to meeting a lady. There was this funky-looking lady with bat wings in her hair handing out slips of paper or something outside, and Ise-nii got given one, but other than that, not much interesting happened until Koneko-chan showed up.

Koneko-chan didn't announce herself when she turned up, merely sitting down across from me. She looked very pretty in a gold V-neck T-shirt, a thigh-length dark magenta skirt, a pair of light salmon stockings with cat paw patterns on them, and a pair of floral white shoes. "Hi," she greeted me as she sat down.

"Morning, Koneko-chan," I said. "You look nice."

For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw pink tinge her cheeks. "Thanks," she said.

"I've ordered us some ice cream," I said. "Looks like Ise-nii arrived early, and I know you have a sweet tooth, so I figured I'd treat you."

"You didn't have to do that."

"Don't worry about it. Think of it as thanks for joining me on this little espionage mission." Just then, the waitress arrived and put our bowls of ice cream down on the table. We ate in relative silence. Koneko-chan finished hers before me – I wasn't joking about her having a sweet tooth. When we first met, I would sometimes bribe her with sweets to keep her from calling me out on some of my more elaborate jokes, but she'd since mellowed to me … I think, anyway. I no longer had to bribe her to get her to keep my schemes a secret, so there was some progress, at least.

Amano-san turned up pretty soon after that, and the mission began. Following Ise-nii and Amano-san through town was a lot more chaotic than I'd been expecting, what with people and particularly other people from school buzzing around all over the place, but we managed to keep pace. The awkward parts were when they stopped in a store and we had to go into one to look inconspicuous. I bought Koneko-chan a pink cap with cat ears on it in one of them, figuring she'd like it because of those clips she usually had in her hair. She seemed to appreciate it, but it was always kind of hard to tell with her.

We nearly lost sight of them when we stopped to do that. To tell you the truth, following Ise-nii and Amano-san seemed less and less important as the day went on. It became incredibly apparent that I didn't care about following them as much as I thought I did when we had to stop while the happy couple stopped in the cafe we were in that morning to get ice cream, and Koneko-chan and I had to stop in a small arcade across the street for some cover. I got so invested in talking to Koneko-chan and playing some of the games near the front of the building with her that she had to actively _tell me _when Ise-nii and Amano-san were leaving. I was getting very wrapped up in just spending the day with Koneko-chan.

As the sun started to go down and people started to clear the streets, I felt disappointed. The day would be ending soon. Amano-san was leading Ise-nii to the park, which, as we got closer, seemed to be deserted. That got me excited again. I was about to see my big brother get to first base.

"It's getting late," Koneko-chan said as we hid in the bushes and watched the two of them walking from behind the treeline. "We should really leave them to their privacy at this point."

"But it's just getting to the _good _part," I mock-whined. Part of me knew she was right, but somehow … I don't know, I guess I just felt compelled to stay and see this out.

"I'll admit that your pervert brother managed the date without being disgusting. Don't you think he's earned some alone time?"

_Compliments? _I thought in surprise. _Wow, she is _really _adamant about this. _"If you wanna leave, I won't be offended," I said. It was true, though I would have been disappointed to see her go like this. After such a great day, it seemed wrong. "I had fun with you today, Koneko-chan. Maybe we can hang out together again in the future? Without tailing my brother, obviously. It'd be awkward if this became our regular activity."

She sighed. "Okay." Her voice was quieter than usual, and I detected a hint of emotion, which was also unusual. "See you in school." As she walked away, I could have sworn I heard her mutter "… I'm sorry, Shin-kun …" in an uncharacteristically emotional voice, which is why I was sure I had imagined it.

I turned my attention back to Ise-nii and Amano-san.

It looked like it was going well. Amano-san was speaking, but I couldn't hear her, and walking towards Ise-nii more with every single word until she was right in front of him. She leaned in, I thought for the kiss, but whispered something in his ear. To my confusion, Ise-nii took a step back and said something else. That was when Amano-san sprouted giant feathered black wings from her back and all of her clothes ripped off, soon being replaced by an outfit made of those black feathers that looked more like black leather. It covered basically _nothing _but her breasts and crotch, and despite my shock and the ice cold feel of the blood in my veins, I felt a sudden stiffness coming on down below.

I was still frozen in shock when the light gathered in Amano-san's hand and took shape, forming a long, sharp object that looked like some kind of spear. She spoke some more, but I was still out of earshot, and then raised her arm and threw the spear of light. It hit Ise-nii right in the stomach. Everything stilled for a moment … then the spear vanished and blood started to fountain out of Ise-nii's stomach and he fell to the ground, yelling in pain, which I unfortunately _was _able to hear. The blood-curdling, pain-filled screams of my brother finally snapped me out of whatever shock had frozen me to begin with.

And where before I felt fear, now I felt nothing but rage.

"_Bitch_," I hissed under my breath, getting up from the ground without really thinking about it. "_Bitch_!" I said again, this time as a shout. I took off running at Amano-san, my body reacting before my brain had a chance to catch up. "_I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, BITCH!_"

She turned with a startled look on her face. A spear formed in her hand once again, and before I knew about it, it was impaled in my chest. The wound burned fiercely, like someone was lighting my blood on fire within my veins, and I collapsed to the floor instantly, unable to stop the scream of pain from ripping its way out of my throat. Amano-san stared down at me with wide eyes for a few seconds and then took to the skies, leaving large black feathers behind as she flew off. One of them landed next to me.

I turned my head and tried to face Ise-nii, who was looking at me with wide eyes that were quickly draining of life. My own vision was fading, as well. A bright light shone from somewhere nearby, but I didn't have the strength to turn my head and find the source.

As I lost my vision entirely, somebody came into view … and was that Koneko-chan standing behind them?

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Raynare flew for five minutes, breathing heavily the entire time, then landed not far from the church she and the others were using as a base. She stood there in silence for a couple of minutes, letting the racing of her heart die down, then began to curse. "Shit," she said. "Shit, shit, _shit_. That wasn't supposed to happen, that wasn't part of the _plan_ … Oh, God, he's gonna _kill _me …"

* * *

**Rated M for swearing, violence, sex, and all that good stuff.**

**This rewrite has been a long time coming. There's one rather persistent reviewer of my stuff who I'm sure will be glad I finally decided to "update the DxD story," though I doubt this is exactly what you had in mind. Oh well. Hopefully, this still gives you enough of an incentive to stop posting that same review on literally everything I upload.**

**I'm not overly annoyed by it, I swear.**

**Shintaro Hyoudou was pretty bland the first time around, I felt. Pretty much just the average "pervert who keeps it on the inside and acts smarter than Issei" stuff that makes up most of the OCs in this category. Here, I decided to make him more of a jokester/prankster type, and while the perversion of his predecessor is still present, here it makes itself known more in the form of inappropriately dirty humour. There is an in-story reason for this personality that will be elaborated on later. I also tried harder to actually _show _the friendship he shares with Koneko rather than just _saying _he has one, which is pretty much what I did in the original version.**

**Also, I'm going to take down the original version 24 hours after posting this. It may not be a popular way of doing things, but I see no point of leaving stuff up if I'm not going to do anything with it. It's just kind of an eyesore on my profile page at that point.**

**I will be leaving a harem list down here, but not the whole thing. I _have _decided on the whole thing, but I decided that I'll be adding people to it as they show up in-story in an attempt to make things more interesting, rather than revealing it all at once. Even then, some of the more surprising ones will be kept off until the moment it becomes clear they're going in – sorry about that, I just feel like it could spoil certain plotpoints if I reveal_ everything_ down in the author's note. Of the characters presented, we have:**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare,

**That's all for now, Constant Readers. See you next time!**


	2. We Lived, Bitch

**Just wanna stop you for a second and do something someone reminded me of in the review section when asking about Shintaro's Evil Piece. A big thanks to makoto x chelia for helping me decide between Knight and Rook for Shintaro's placement on the Peerage, you were a big help!**

**Now, onto the story!**

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

We Lived, Bitch

When I woke up on Monday morning, I felt like death, and I don't mean in the usual way all teenagers feel like death when they wake up on Monday mornings. Everything hurt: my head, my chest, my arms, my legs, _all of it_. I didn't know what the hell had hit me when I was coming home last night, but that fucking thing needed taking somewhere to be dismantled. I stood up groggily and walked over to my bedroom window, then I pulled open my curtains. I immediately recoiled from the sun which felt like it was burning me despite the fact that it was still nowhere near that kind of summer weather for another two months.

"The fuck …?" I wondered out loud as I stepped back into the more shady area of my room. "I'm not hungover, am I? I don't _think _I drank anything last night … I don't even know a place that would _serve _someone my age …" I closed my eyes to think and got flashes of being impaled the night before. _What a fucked up dream, _I thought, sighing. It had seemed so _real_.

_Wait, I'm not a vampire, am I? _I asked myself. Then I hit myself in the head because that was fucking stupid.

There was a small squeaking sound from my shelf. The hamster. _Oh yeah, I planned to sneak you back in today, didn't I? _I thought. Whereas the thought of the smiles on the faces of the students finding their beloved class pet returned to them filled me with joy a week ago, feeling the way I did this morning, I just couldn't bring myself to feel any enthusiasm over it. This was going to suck. I hated feeling like I was just going through the motions.

I decided to see if hydration would help with my current problem. I carefully stepped around the parts in the room that were being lit by the sun, which thankfully wasn't shining _directly _through the window at this time of the day, and exited my room, where I promptly bumped into Ise-nii, who seemed to have the same idea I did. He looked like shit. I assumed I was looking similar. He also looked incredibly freaked out, which was something else I could understand.

"Morning, Ise-nii," I groaned.

"Morning, Shin," he said. "Hey, uh … you don't remember anything weird happening last night, do you?"

I perked up a bit at that. Could it be …? "… Yeah, there's some pretty weird shit buzzing around in my head," I admitted.

"Me, too," he said.

"… I think we'd best save this until we're heading to school," I suggested. "Don't want Kaa-san and Tou-san hearing this conversation and thinking we've both gone mental."

"Y-Yeah, good point. Were you headed to the bathroom?"

"Nah, you go ahead. I'll use the sink downstairs."

* * *

Walking to school that morning was literally the worst experience of my life so far. Drinking water had done very little to help with the full-body pain, and the sun's burning sensation on my skin was only making it worse now that I was outside and directly exposed to it. Ise-nii walked beside me and he looked just as shitty as I felt. We were both walking a lot slower than our usual pace. Neither of us could get any real motivation to move quickly with the way we were feeling.

"So …" Ise-nii began after we walked in awkward silence for a while, "… you remember what happened last night?"

I swallowed. "Yeah, I do," I said. "I was … honestly hoping you wouldn't. It would be so much easier to just assume everything that happened yesterday was a really messed up dream."

"Yeah, tell me about it … Hey, wait, what the hell were you even doing there?"

"That's not important."

"I disagree."

I sighed. "I was following you on your date to make sure you didn't fuck it up," I admitted. "And so I could make fun of you for it afterwards. Really freak you out, know what I mean?"

"… Not gonna lie, that's pretty fucking creepy, Shin," he said. "But … I guess I'm glad, in a way. Not that you died or anything! Or … _whatever _it was that happened to us. It's just a lot easier to deal with knowing you can, you know, clarify my story. I can't decide whether I feel better or worse for knowing all this shit really happened, but it's _something_, at least."

I was glad he saw it like that. This would have been really awkward if he had taken offence. "So … what do we do now?" I asked.

"I dunno, little bro," he said. "But we need to figure this shit out."

"Yeah … we really do. What the hell happened after we passed out …?"

That question haunted us all the way to school. When we separated, we decided it would be best to figure things out later. Ise-nii said he would go and ask Matsuda-san and Motohama-san if they knew anything, seeing as he had introduced Amano-san, or whatever the hell her name really was, to them the week before. I said I would ask Koneko-chan since she was with me when I was spying on his date, right up until just before any of this went down.

* * *

I got to my classroom and sat at my desk. Koneko-chan was already there. I thought about how I could carefully broach the subject of yesterday, although I admittedly didn't expect much out of her seeing as she had left before the event even occurred. As I sat down, I felt a bit better.

"Hey, Koneko-chan," I said, comforted by the friendly face.

"Hi," she said, and nothing else.

"Um …" I began. "You, er, don't remember anything _weird _happening yesterday, do you?"

"No," she said.

"So, after you left the park, everything was normal?"

"We never went to the park yesterday."

"Yes, we did, when we were following Ise-nii and his girlfriend around."

"You expect me to believe that pervert has a girlfriend?"

I looked at her, my mouth agape. Did she … not remember? What was going on here? "You _know _he did," I said shakily. I couldn't help it, my voice was coming out like it would in the cold. "This … this happened last week …"

She just shrugged. I knew I shouldn't stare and that it made me look like a weirdo, but there was something bubbling inside me I didn't like in relation to Koneko-chan. This … this was _hurting_, deep down, in a way I hadn't felt before. She _had _to be lying, right? _I _remembered. _Ise-nii _remembered. We couldn't have both had the same hallucination, could we? That didn't seem possible. But why would Koneko-chan lie to me like this? Somehow, in my head, it made even less sense than the rest of the situation.

Or maybe I was just going crazy. I guess that's also a possibility.

* * *

Somehow, I ended the school day more upset than I had begun it. Koneko-chan had been avoiding me all day, I was sure of it. Usually, I could approach her for conversation in the hallways with no problem whatsoever, but today, there were always people strategically placed between us that made getting to her problematic, and when I got to where she was, she had already moved on. In classes we had together, she had apparently decided to switch seats for the day so that she was sitting away from me. That was already bad, but what made it worse was this weird pain in my chest I'd been feeling since she lied (if I wasn't insane) to me this morning. I didn't like this feeling.

I had returned the hamster to its classroom discreetly at lunch, but the thought of the good cheer its return would bring didn't excite me in the way it normally would have. My emotions, other than that pain in my chest, just felt … dull.

_I just wish this day would end, _I thought miserably. _If only I could turn back the clock to last week … Just that one night and everything seems so different … I don't like it …_

A hand on my shoulder stopped me short as I started to walk out of the school gates without really paying attention to anything around me. I turned to see who it was and saw that it was Ise-nii looking at me with some concern. "Hey, Shin, you okay?" he asked.

I laughed. It was a fake laugh and I knew he could tell. I was never good at faking it (that's what she said). "Why wouldn't I be?" I asked sarcastically. "I only appear to be having a mental breakdown and am actively questioning my entire sense of reality. Other than that, I'm _great_."

Ise-nii brought me in for a bro-hug and I felt somewhat better, not just because of the comfort of my brother but the thought of all the erotic fanfiction the girls who were seeing this would likely think up because they were all sick in the head and every girl in this school had a dire obsession with slash fiction genuinely amused me as much as it sickened me. You would be _astounded _the kind of ships these girls could come up with. And they call _Ise-nii _sick.

The thought managed to coerce a genuine chuckle out of me. "Thanks, Ise-nii," I said. "Now please let go before girls start saying one of us is adopted to justify their twisted imaginations."

"Good call," he said, laughing a bit as he let me go. "Look, Shin, I know this is bugging the hell out of you. It's bugging me, too. But Matsuda and Motohama don't remember Yuuma-chan at all, and all the pictures we took together on my phone are just sorta … _gone_. I … I think it might be best if we just try going back to normal."

"… Yeah, you're probably right," I said without meaning it. I wanted to know what was happening. I wanted to know why Koneko-chan was avoiding me.

"I'm gonna head over to Matsuda's place with him and Motohama to watch some porn," Ise-nii said without so much as an ounce of shame. "I'll be out late, most likely, so I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"Ew," I said in disgust. "You guys are making _actual _plans to watch _porn _together? I dunno what _you _do when you're watching porn, but with _me _it's not exactly a spectator sport. Or, what, are you guys into the old circlejerk? Like performing 'dead man's hand' only with someone else's hand and it's not so dead?"

"Should've known that'd just give you ammunition …" he muttered, though the smirk on his face told me he was pleased I had my sense of humour back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." I watched him walk towards his two friends, then turned around and started walking home.

I thought about Koneko-chan the whole way back.

* * *

The night had the exact opposite effect on my to the day. I felt fucking _amazing_. _Too _amazing, in fact, as at the point in the night when I _should _have been going to sleep, I felt so full of energy that sleep was literally impossible. I felt like going for a run, which wasn't something I would usually be thinking. Plus, the lights were off and the curtains were drawn, but I could still _see _like the whole damn room was being lit up. It made sleeping somewhat difficult even in addition to the energy boost I was experiencing.

That was why I spent the middle of the night pacing my room rather than trying to get to sleep like a normal human being.

"What the hell is happening to me?" I asked aloud as I paced. I couldn't help it, the extra energy was making me project everything out loud. I would have to get control of that. "I get hurt when the sun shines on me, I get extra energetic at night … Am I _absolutely sure _I'm not a vampire?" I hit myself again. "No, enough of that, you idiot, vampires don't exist. Maybe I've suddenly become an albino? That'd explain the sun, but not what I'm currently experiencing … Hmm … We live in confusing times, it would seem." I stood still for a few minutes, thinking, trying to get rid of the excess energy by rapidly tapping my foot. It wasn't working, so I started pacing again.

"What the hell's up with Koneko-chan?" My thoughts went back to her for what felt like, and probably _was_, the millionth time that evening. "Why's she been ducking and dodging me all day? Did I do something wrong? Oh God, I _really _hope I didn't do anything wrong … Was I too forceful in my questioning this morning? Did I make her uncomfortable? I hope not … But then why is she lying? She's _got _to be lying. This isn't like Ise-nii's idiot friends, she was _there _right up until we got to the park. She _has _to remember … doesn't she? So why … why …?" I growled and tore at my hair. "Why do I _care_? So what if she's avoiding me? She shouldn't be lying to me! So why do I feel so fucking _bad _right now? This fucking pain in my chest … It's not like I _like _her or anything."

All the energy drained out of me after those words left my mouth. I stopped dead in the centre of the room, all the frustration forgotten and only sudden realisation in its place as my heart hammered away in my chest. "Oh my God … I _do _like her …" The problem with spending so much time with one person was that I never truly realised just how _much _I liked spending that time with her until I was no longer in a position to do so. "That's why what she said … that's why her avoiding me … that's why it all _hurts _so damn much … I've … I've got a crush …"

Suitably shocked by the revelation that I had romantic feelings for my best friend, I sat down on my bed, pretty much just letting myself drop. I needed answers, but now that I thought about it, the idea of pushing her into giving them just felt _wrong_, no matter how much that information directly affected me. Now that I knew my own feelings, now that they weren't being drowned out by my attempts at joking or the negativity that had infested me throughout the day, now that I was _thinking _… I wanted to apologise for being so pushy for answers earlier, for every bad word I had just said regarding her …

I honestly couldn't bring myself to hold the secret keeping against her.

"Koneko-chan …" I said as I laid down on my bed. All that filled my head were images of her face … that pretty face … "_Koneko-chan …_" I muttered as I did what seemed impossible mere minutes ago and fell asleep.

* * *

I felt slightly better waking up that morning than I had waking up the morning before, though I still felt like death. Sleep had let that insistent pain in my chest calm somewhat, and while it was still agonising, it was at least manageably so. Even then, I couldn't bring myself to move at first. Every fibre of my being was telling me I should just lie in bed until the hurting stopped. This was the sort of thing I was trying to avoid by always keeping a smile on my face. My emotions have a habit of getting the better of me.

"Ise! Shin! Wake up! It's time for school!" Kaa-san yelled from downstairs.

I groaned and sat up in my bed. As shitty as I felt, it had nothing on how terrifying a sufficiently angry mother could be, so my sense of self-preservation won out fairly quickly. I stretched my arms out and was satisfied by all the cracks and pops that came from my joints.

"Wait, is Ise even here?" Tou-san asked Kaa-san downstairs.

"His shoes are in the entrance, so I know he came home," Kaa-san tittered. "Geez! Staying out at his friend's house so late! _And _he's going to be late for school! When I get my hands on that boy …" I was amused to find that I was still seemingly angelic in my parents' eyes. Another downside of Ise-nii's open perversion: our parents were pretty much 100% sure I was going to be the one out of the two of us who would be giving them grandchildren.

Kaa-san's footsteps were coming up the stairs. I sat up further and swung my legs off the bed, hoping to hear better, only for my little toe to hit my bedside table's leg. I instinctively flinched but found that stubbing my toe didn't hurt the hellish way it usually did. Before I could wonder about that, Ise-nii's bedroom door opened … and there was silence. Somebody said something too muffled to hear. I assumed it was Kaa-san because of the softer pitch, but then Kaa-san spoke loudly and in a robotic voice: "… GET READY QUICKLY."

Ise-nii's door slammed shut and a few seconds later Kaa-san came into my room with a worried look on her face. "Shin … who is that girl?" she asked.

"What girl?" I asked in confusion.

"The … the one in Ise's bed."

My eyes widened. "There's a girl in Ise-nii's _bed_?" I asked in disbelief.

She stared at me for a few moments more, then said "Just get dressed," before shutting my door and going back downstairs.

"What's wrong?" I heard Tou-san ask. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Oh, God, you didn't walk in on Ise having one off the wrist again, did you?"

"There's a girl in Ise's bed," Kaa-san said in a flat voice.

"Huh?"

"In Ise's bed, there is a _girl_. And she's _naked_."

"… Are you sure it's a _real _girl …?"

I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. I stood up to get dressed as quickly as I could, I just _had _to see if this was real. What the hell had _happened _at Matsuda-san's place last night to result in Ise-nii taking a naked girl to bed with him? I leaned on my bedside table as I was standing up and it wobbled a bit, which was unusual. I looked down and saw that there was a big chunk missing from the bottom of the leg I had kicked by accident a minute ago. _Did I do that …?_

I shook the question out of my brain. Stuff like that could be worked out later. I got dressed as quickly as I could and left my bedroom just in time to see Ise-nii exiting his … accompanied by the most popular girl in school, Rias Gremory. To say my jaw dropped would be an understatement – I'm pretty sure it landed in the Earth's core.

"Wha …?" was all I could get out of my mouth as I looked between the two of them. "When the hell did _this _happen?"

"Last night," said Gremory-senpai. She smiled at me, a smile full of kindness. "Good morning, Shintaro."

The strangely familial use of my first name made my cheeks heat up. "M-Morning," I mumbled in response. I threw Ise-nii a "WTF" look, but he just shrugged at me and indicated that we should go downstairs. I got the message loud and clear – hopefully, I would get an explanation when this was explained to my parents.

* * *

"Thank you for the meal," I, Ise-nii, and Gremory-senpai all said before tucking into our breakfast.

"This is very delicious, Mrs Hyoudou," said Gremory-senpai.

"Th-Thank you very much," Kaa-san said awkwardly.

Kaa-san and Tou-san were staring at Ise-nii and Gremory-senpai with unsure expressions. I, too, was incredibly confused, but I was trying to hide it by spending time eating my food and just listening to what everybody was saying. Between the emotional roller-coaster that was yesterday and the confusion of this morning, I could feel a headache racing towards me like a freight train. I wished someone would just tell me what the hell was going on already.

"Ise, don't be rude," Gremory-senpai said sternly to Ise-nii, who was leaving his food basically untouched. "Your okaa-sama made this food for you. Eat it."

"Y-Yes," Ise-nii responded instantly, then proceeded to start eating his breakfast way too quickly.

"Damn, Ise-nii, are you even _chewing_?" I asked, slightly put off from my own food from the way he was basically _inhaling _his. "Not everything is as soft and liquidy as what you're usually given to swallow, calm the hell down."

He glared at me from across the table.

"Shintaro, you shouldn't speak in such a vulgar way at the table," Gremory-senpai admonished me. Something about the way she said it made me wilt in shame, like it was an older family member calling me out on something. "Though he does have a point, Ise. It's impolite not to eat so you can taste it." She wiped Ise-nii's mouth off with a handkerchief.

… _Wait, when the hell did I get a big sister? _I wondered. It was certainly what she was _acting _like.

"I-Ise …?" Tou-san spoke up, looking nervous. "W-Where did this lady c-come from?"

Gremory-senpai put down her chopsticks and bowed her head towards our parents. "Oh my, I apologise for not introducing myself," she said. "Mr and Mrs Hyoudou, my name is Rias Gremory. I'm an upper-classman of your two boys at Kuoh Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you." The smoothness with which she was able to say that despite the state she had been found with Ise-nii in this morning was impressive.

"I-Is that so?" Tou-san asked, looking no less put out by her presence. "Forgive me for asking, but are you from a foreign country? Your Japanese is very good."

"Yes," said Gremory-senpai. "My father works over here, so I've been living in Japan for a long time."

Tou-san looked placated by this, which I think says something about either him or the male gender as a whole, because Kaa-san was still looking at Gremory-senpai with suspicion. I would like to think it's just Tou-san – even _I _still thought this situation was weird.

"So, Rias-san …?" Kaa-san began.

"Yes, Mrs Hyoudou?" asked Gremory-senpai.

"What kind of relationship do you have with Ise?"

_Here we go, _I thought as I prepared to hear an explanation for why she was in bed naked with Ise-nii last night and this morning.

"We're just close schoolmates, Mrs Hyoudou," Gremory-senpai explained.

"That's a lie!" Kaa-san denied immediately.

_Yeah, nice try, Gremory-senpai, but nobody's falling for that. _I was pretty close to Koneko-chan, at least I thought I was, but I still couldn't picture a scenario wherein she'd be naked in my bed … not a scenario that would ever happen outside of my own torrid fantasies, anyway.

"Ise said he has nightmares, so I was just sleeping beside him," Gremory-senpai continued with the blatant lies.

"Just sleeping together!?" Kaa-san exclaimed in disbelief. "Both of you were _naked_!"

"That's pretty normal these days. People sleep a lot better together when there's less layers between them."

"I-Is that so?" Kaa-san asked quietly, much to my disbelief. "So young people are sleeping in the buff with each other these days … huh …"

_Wait … _No. No, she _couldn't_, could she? She couldn't actually _believe _what Gremory-senpai was telling her, could she? I thought not, I was so sure she didn't _actually _believe her, but the longer I looked into my mother's face, the more I saw that she really _did _believe every word that had just come out of the redhead's mouth.

My parents are _fascinatingly _stupid.

* * *

Whereas Ise-nii looked really uncomfortable with the stares we were getting from other students as we walked to school, I was completely unbothered by them. Primarily because I was still so weirded the fuck out by all of yesterday and this morning. I had received what was apparently the cliffnotes version of what was happening from Gremory-senpai, though I felt like I would need some more details before I bought what she was saying.

So, according to her, Ise-nii and I are Devils now.

_Devils._

Oh, and the reason my parents had bought that bullshit she was spouting at breakfast hook, line, and sinker was that she was using her Devil powers to mess with their heads so that they wouldn't question her presence in Ise-nii's bedroom that morning.

_Devils._

And she was also apparently our master, to boot!

_Devils._

_What the fuck is happening with my life? _I thought as I walked on one side of Gremory-senpai while Ise-nii walked on the other side, carrying her bag for her. We looked like shit bodyguards.

When we got into the school building, Gremory-senpai took her bag back from Ise-nii. "I'll send people to fetch you both later," she said. "I'll see you after school." And that was it, she just walked off and left us there to absorb everything.

Not that we had long to do that. Matsuda-san smacked Ise-nii upside the head before we could get any serious thinking done. "Explain!" he demanded of Ise-nii.

"Relax, Matsuda," Motohama-san said level-headedly. "We should at least give our good buddy a chance to explain himself. So, Ise, what happened when you left Matsuda's place last night?"

I could have stayed to listen to this, maybe make fun of Matsuda-san and Motohama-san like I usually did, but I really wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to get through the day so I could get some damn answers. I trudged through the halls of the school, and the students that knew me looked at me oddly, like they could tell something was wrong. I walked to my classroom and sat down in my seat, not really acknowledging the world around me.

"Good morning, Shin," Koneko-chan said from beside me.

"Yeah, hey," I said, and that was all. It was rude, but after yesterday … I just wasn't sure if I could make conversation without letting slip something I couldn't take back. No matter my own feelings towards her, I wouldn't ruin my relationship with Koneko-chan if I could help it. I would just get through the day, get all this shit out of my head, and our routine would go back to the way it was before.

* * *

But of course life couldn't be that simple, as I discovered when I was fetched after school. I didn't bother moving when the bell rang while everyone else got to their feet and left. Then I found Koneko-chan standing in front of my desk, waiting for me.

I sat and stared until it clicked. "You're the fetcher, huh?" I said.

"Yes," she said. "Buchou, that is Rias Gremory-senpai, asked me to bring you to our clubroom after school."

"… Okay, then." I stood up and picked by bag up, slinging it over my shoulder. "Lead on, Koneko-chan."

The walk was quiet at first. We got out of the classroom and into the bustling hallways, full of students who were going either home or to school clubs. We drew no more attention than usual. The rumour mill was having a lot of fun with the two of us since the beginning of the year. It's basically impossible to maintain a friendship with someone of the opposite sex in a school full of gossipy teenagers without words being spread, regardless of the context of the friendship.

We were almost at the exit of the main school building when Koneko-chan spoke.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" I asked.

"Leaving you in the park on Sunday night," she said. So she _did _remember … "And lying to you about remembering it. I didn't want to keep any of this from you, but I had to. Buchou told me not to say anything."

"… Then why ignore me?" I asked. I tried and failed to keep the hurt out of my voice. "You could've just played it off like everything was okay, and maybe I would've just gotten to thinking it was a dream or something. Why did you avoid me all of yesterday?"

"…" For the first time in the conversation, she hesitated. When she spoke again, there were the barest traces of emotion in her voice, something which I hadn't heard from her before. "… Because I didn't trust myself not to tell you everything the second I started talking," she admitted. "My plan was just like you said, to just pretend everything was normal. But when I lied to you yesterday morning, the look on your face … You're always so carefree, Shin-kun, that I didn't think I could hurt you like that, but the expression you had … If I had to look at it again, I thought I would just spill everything. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, I never wanted to. And … I'm sorry for leaving you to die."

… I wasn't expecting so much from her. She'd never spoken that much in any one instance since the day I first met her, but here she was, apologising to me with more feeling in her voice than I ever heard from her before. It made me feel like shit for making her feel this guilty. How could I call myself a man if I let a cute girl feel this way? I looked at her face as we walked, and while it appeared to be stoic as usual, I could see something new in her eyes that I didn't like. I wanted to make it go away.

"You know, you're a really bad actress, anyway," I commented idly.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, you've just got the one facial expression and no voice variation. You couldn't have put a little more, 'Wow, Shin-kun, yo ass is CRAZY' into your voice when you said you didn't remember anything weird from Sunday?" I shook my head. "Shame, Koneko-chan. Shame. I really need to educate you in the art of bullshit if we're gonna keep up our double act."

"… Why are you so stupid?" she asked me. That look in her eyes I didn't like wasn't completely gone, but it faded, and as far as I'm concerned that's only a good thing.

She led me into the Old School Building, which looked a hell of a lot nicer on the inside than it did on the outside, and took me to the second floor. We stopped outside a particular classroom with a sign on the door that said "Occult Research Club."

"Buchou, I've brought Shin-kun," Koneko-chan said through the door.

"Yes, come in," Gremory-senpai said after a small wait.

Koneko-chan opened the door and led me inside. All over the walls, ceiling, and even the floor of the room, there were these weird symbols, most of them circular in nature, some of them on pieces of paper and some painted or carved directly into the various surfaces. The biggest was a circle painted onto the floor in the centre of the room that looked like a good few people could comfortably stand inside it. It gave off a really creepy vibe. There were two sofas, a coffee table, and an armchair at one point in the room, and a desk with a chair behind it in one corner. There was another door to a room off of this one (never a good thing to have, in my opinion – it gives off a real serial killer feel).

Koneko-chan went over to one of the sofas and sat down. I followed and sat next to her. There was a plate of chocolate already waiting for her on the coffee table, which she immediately picked up and started eating.

"Want one?" she offered after swallowing a piece.

"No thanks," I denied, a little surprised that she was offering me her sweets.

We were sitting there for a few minutes when somebody else, a male this time, spoke through the door and had the same exchange that Koneko-chan did. Gremory-senpai was in the other room that branched off from this one, by the sound of her voice, which was muffled by some continues hiss-like sound that reminded me of running water. When they were told to come in, one of the two who stepped through the door was Ise-nii, and the other was none other than the most popular guy in school Yuuto Kiba.

Kiba-san was handsome, even I could see it. He had short blond hair, bluish-grey eyes, and a mole underneath his left eye, just that small imperfection to emphasise how good-looking he was. He wore the school's uniform flawlessly.

"Hey, Ise-nii," I said as they entered. "Hello, Kiba-san. It's nice to meet you in person."

"Nice to meet you, as well, Hyoudou-kun," said Kiba-san.

"I believe you know of my brother," I said jokingly to Koneko-chan.

"Ah, it's nice to meet you," Ise-nii said to her.

Koneko-chan just bowed her head at him and carried on eating her sweets. He started looking through that door near the back of the room and as his face went redder and redder from realisation, it occurred to me that he looked as big a pervert as the rumours about him would suggest in that moment. Curious as to what he was seeing, I stood up to tilt my head in the direction of the room and saw a shower curtain.

"Oooooooh, that makes sense," I said, glancing at his expression before sitting back down.

"Pervert," Koneko-chan said scornfully.

Gremory-senpai exited the shower room fully dressed, though her hair was still wet. It gave her already alluring hair a shine that really did something for it. "I couldn't take a shower last night because I stayed at your place," she explained to Ise-nii and I.

"Honestly, I'm more curious about the shower _being _here than you _using _it," I said.

I was going to say more than that, maybe crack a joke or something, but seeing the girl behind Gremory-senpai took my breath away. _Akeno Himejima in the flesh … _I thought. Believe me, the awe was warranted, this woman was _beautiful_. Raven black hair that went all the way down to her legs even though it was tied up in a ponytail with an orange ribbon, captivating violet eyes, fair skin, a body so voluptuous it was straining against her uniform like it was going to break all the buttons off …

I stared, slackjawed, for several moments before saying the first thing that came to mind … which, because I'm _me_, was inappropriate humour. "So," I began, "is wearing tops three sizes too small the 'in' thing now, or are you one of those girls who gets off on being short of breath?" Koneko-chan elbowed me in the side harshly. "Ow!" I looked over and saw her glaring at me intensely. It made me nervous.

…

…

…

I am _so _lucky that Himejima-senpai started laughing. She did so elegantly, putting a hand in front of her smile as her eyes twinkled with amusement. "I _like _this one," she said. "And for the record," she winked, "it's the latter."

I got the sudden urge to unbutton my shirt to get rid of the heat that coated my entire body the second she winked. _Did that line actually _work_? _I thought in disbelief. I nervously looked at Koneko-chan to see how she was reacting only to find she was no longer glaring at me, but was now glaring at Himejima-senpai. _And did she just move closer to me on the sofa? Or is that just my imagination?_

It was probably my imagination.

Himejima-senpai bowed to Ise-nii and I. "My name is Akeno Himejima," she said. I was too focused on the way her chest was moving with her bending over to pay close attention. Not that I needed to, anyway. There wasn't a guy in school who didn't know who she was. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Looks like everyone is here," said Gremory-senpai. "Now, Ise, Shintaro, we, the Occult Research Club, welcome you … as Devils."

_And here it is, _I thought. _Time to get those answers._

Himejima-senpai gave everyone tea. I sipped it carefully, allowing myself to taste it as well as making sure it didn't sear my mouth too badly, as most hot beverages usually seem to on the first sip. "This stuff is superb," I said. She had brewed it just right.

"Yeah, it tastes good," Ise-nii agreed.

"Thank you very much," Himejima-senpai said with a small laugh. Then she went and sat next to Gremory-senpai on the other sofa, along with Kiba-san. Ise-nii had settled down on the other end of the sofa Koneko-chan and myself were occupying. There was a surprising amount of room on that side of the sofa … maybe Koneko-chan _had _moved closer to me …

"I'll get to the point," Gremory-senpai said, cutting off my train of thought. "We're all Devils." She waited for a response. "Your expressions say you don't believe me. Ise, you did see the man with black wings last night, didn't you?"

"Wait, what?" I asked. I was passed over.

"That was a Fallen Angel," Gremory-senpai explained. "They were once Angels who served God but fell from grace due to acts of sin. They're an enemy of us Devils. We've been at war since ancient times. We've been fighting over possession of the Underworld, what you humans would know as Hell. The Underworld is basically split in half because of this, with the Devils occupying one side, the Fallen Angels the other. Devils make pacts with humans in exchange for sacrifices in order to build our strength, whereas the Fallen Angels manipulate humans to eliminate Devils. Then, one day, God ordered his Angels to destroy both sides of the conflict, and thus the three-way conflict that troubles us even to this day began."

"Oh, wait, I know what this is," I said. "This is the part at the beginning of the RPG where a crapton of lore is just dropped into our laps, right?"

"Yeah, this … it's kinda hard to believe," said Ise-nii. "Is this what you guys do all day?"

"The Occult Research Club is just a way of camouflaging us from the humans of the school," said Gremory-senpai. "In reality, it's a gathering place for my Peerage of Devils." She paused, I assume to see if we believed her yet. She clearly didn't see any sign because she went on. "Yuuma Amano."

My breath hitched in my throat. It was the first time anyone other than Ise-nii had said that name since the day of the date.

"You went on a date with a girl named Yuuma Amano, right?" Gremory-senpai pressed Ise-nii.

"… If this is a joke, you can stop it now," said Ise-nii. "I don't find it funny. I don't want to talk about this here." The hurt in his voice was tangible. If not for the fact that Koneko-chan was sitting between us, I would have laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"She existed," Gremory-senpai said with conviction. "She tried to erase all the evidence of her existence left behind, _that's _why nobody can remember her but you two." She clicked her fingers and Himejima-senpai put a photograph on the coffee table. "This is her, right? Yuuma Amano." It was her, all right. Amano-san's face was in that picture, plain as day, even though all the photos of her in Ise-nii's phone were gone. "She is a Fallen Angel. The same kind of creature that attacked you last night, Ise."

"Wait, wait, hold on," I said. "Ise-nii was attacked last night?"

"By this weirdo in a big coat," Ise-nii said. His voice was devoid of emotion, likely due to the shock of everything that was being said. "I passed out after he stabbed me. I don't remember anything else before waking up in bed this morning."

"This Fallen Angel calling herself Yuuma Amano," Gremory-senpai continued, "came into contact with you, Ise, to accomplish her goal. After she accomplished it, she got rid of any evidence that she'd ever been here."

"What the hell was she trying to achieve?" I asked.

"She wanted to kill Ise."

"Why!?" Ise-nii asked loudly. He was really starting to flip out over this. "Why did she need to kill me!?"

"Calm down, Ise," Gremory-senpai said gently. "This isn't exactly uncommon. No … you were just unlucky. There were possessors that weren't killed …"

"What do you mean, unlucky!?"

"Ise-nii," I said, gaining his attention. "Calm down. I know it's hard, I'm not exactly happy hearing this myself, but we're not going to get anywhere if we keep on like this."

He took a few deep breaths, visibly trying to calm himself, and sat down again.

"At the end of your date," Gremory-senpai went on, "you went to the park, where she killed you with a spear of light, then killed Shintaro when she found out he'd seen her."

"But we're still alive!" Ise-nii argued. "Why the hell was I targeted!?"

"She had to get close to you so she could look for something inside of you, something dangerous. The signal she got from it mustn't have been very strong at first, otherwise she would've acted sooner. She only went through with her plan of attack when she realised you did indeed possess a Sacred Gear."

"What's a Sacred Gear?" I asked when Ise-nii failed to respond.

"It's an irregular power found in certain humans," Kiba-san explained. "Most major historical figures are said to have been Sacred Gear possessors. They used their Sacred Gears to achieve the things they're known for."

"It's the same thing nowadays," Himejima-senpai added. "All those people with major roles on a worldwide scale? Sacred Gear possessors, most if not all of them."

"Most Sacred Gears are useless outside of human society," Gremory-senpai explained. "But there are Sacred Gears with powers that can be threatening to supernatural beings such as us Devils, Fallen Angels, and even Angels. Ise, raise your hand."

Ise-nii raised his left arm with confusion written on his face.

"Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind," Gremory-senpai ordered.

"Strongest being …?" Ise-nii thought aloud. "Hmm … Son Goku from _Dragon Ball _…"

"That's it, now imagine him in a pose you associate with strength. When he appears the strongest." She waited for Ise-nii to get a good idea. "Now slowly lower your arm and stand up." He did so. "Now mimic the pose you were imagining. Keep it really clear in your mind, okay? You cannot hold back."

_Oh my God, is this really happening? _I thought as a grin that threatened to split the skin of my face spread across my cheeks. _Am I about to see my big brother playing Son Goku at the age of seventeen? Oh, comedy gods, how you have blessed me this day! I shall cherish this memory forever and ever!_

I watched on in glee as Ise-nii put his hands together in the same fashion as Goku does on _Dragon Ball_. Then he thrust his hands forward and shouted, "Kamehameha!" Something changed when he did. The atmosphere of the room felt … _heavier_, somehow, like there was something in the air pressing down on me that wasn't there before.

"Now open your eyes," said Gremory-senpai. "This place is filled with demonic power, so your Sacred Gear will appear more easily."

Ise-nii did as he was told and opened his eyes. A blinding flash emanated from his left arm, causing me to shield my eyes for a split-second, then it dissipated just as quickly. I opened my eyes again and saw that Ise-nii's left hand was now covered by a red gauntlet. There was what appeared to be a green gem at the centre of the back of his hand. "What the hell is this!?" he shouted, looking down at it.

"That's your Sacred Gear, Ise," said Gremory-senpai. "Now that you've summoned it, you can call upon it anytime, anywhere. The Fallen Angel, Yuuma Amano, saw this Sacred Gear as a threat and killed you for it. You summoned me when you were on the verge of death, using this." She held up a flier with some demonic-looking symbols on it and a phrase – "your wish will be granted." "This is one of the fliers we give out. The magic circle is the same as the one on the floor in here, and is used to summon us. We have to hand these out since the days of people summoning Devils to gain every little desire have long since passed. The day you died, my Familiar was handing these out in town and you were given one. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called out to me when you were on the verge of death. You must have wished particularly hard to summon me. Normally, one of my servants is summoned. I sensed you had a Sacred Gear in you, so I decided to save your life by bringing you back as my Devil servant."

"Um," I said, raising my hand. "Okay, so I get the picture about why you brought Ise-nii back, what with the Sacred Gear and all. But why me? I'm not at all special, am I? Why bring me back?" It was a question I didn't want to ask, to be honest, but I had to know. If the reason she brought Ise-nii back was that Sacred Gear, then what was she getting out of me being here? I just couldn't see a reason.

"There were a couple of reasons, actually," said Gremory-senpai. "The first thing I noticed is that you have usually high potential for growth, and I mean that in a supernatural sense. Devils can see potential in humans to a certain degree. We have to if we're going to build up our servants, you can't always count on a Sacred Gear possessor falling into your lap. The second and more important reason, however, is Koneko." She smiled fondly. "You should have seen her asking me to bring you back. I couldn't bring myself to let one of my servants lose somebody she's so fond of, so the decision seemed obvious."

"Buchou …" Koneko-chan very nearly groaned. She looked embarrassed, and it was adorable.

But I was thinking about more than how adorable she looked while embarrassed when I was looking at her. _She … asked Gremory-senpai to bring me back? _The idea of it sent my heart fluttering. I felt red rising to my cheeks not unlike the red currently in hers, though I suspect I had less control over its presence. I felt not a smirk, but a genuine smile grow on my face. _Koneko-chan …_

I was snapped out of it when bat-like wings sprung from everybody's backs, startling me and Ise-nii. I felt an extra weight on my back and turned to look, finding that those same wings were sprouting out of my back, too. _Holy shit, I can fly, _I realised with growing excitement.

"Let's introduce ourselves anew," Gremory-senpai suggested. "Yuuto."

"My name is Yuuto Kiba," said Kiba-san. "I'm a second year. Like you, Hyoudou-kun. I'm a Devil, too. Nice to meet you."

"First year," said Koneko-chan. "Koneko Toujou. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm a Devil, too."

"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third year," said Himejima-senpai. "I'm the vice-president of the Occult Research Club. Nice to meet you. Even though I'm like this, I'm also a Devil." She gave off a little laugh at the end.

"And I'm their master as well as yours, a Devil from the house of Gremory," Gremory-senpai said with a flourish of her hair. "My house holds the rank of Duke. Let's get along, Ise, Shintaro."

Taking a breath, I stood up and bowed. "I am Shintaro Hyoudou, first year," I said clearly. "I guess I'm a Devil now, too. I won't lie, I probably won't look like I'm taking things seriously a lot of the time, but I'll work my hardest to show that you didn't make a mistake in bringing me back." I might have overplayed it, but having discovered that Ise-nii was so special by supernatural standards, I felt that I had to work extra hard to make sure I wasn't just a waste of a servant. Rather than sitting back down, I leant down to speak to Koneko-chan. "Can we talk outside for a minute, Koneko-chan?"

She tilted her head curiously, but nodded, following me out of the room.

"What did you want to talk ab—"

Before she could finish speaking, I wrapped her in a hug. Not glomping her in a jokey hug like I'd done in the past, by an attempt to show genuine affection and warmth. She went rigid. "I'm sorry if I was harsh at all before," I said. "I was confused and kinda scared, and I … I thought badly of you when I thought you were just ignoring me. I shouldn't have. I should never think anything bad about my best girl, should I?"

As I spoke, I felt her relax in my arms.

"And … you don't need to be sorry about what happened in the park," I said softly. "I don't think there's anything for you to be sorry for, but since I get the feeling you need to hear it, here you go … I forgive you."

With those final words, she relaxed completely into the hug and wrapped her arms around me in return. We stayed out there like that for a few precious moments and then rejoined the others in what was now the clubroom I belonged to. Before we got through the door, however, I added some more words.

"Thank you for saving my life."

* * *

**I cannot believe I got this out so quickly. Don't count on that happening again, I work pretty much full time these days, but apparently this week I was struck with Flash-like lightning bolt that only increased the speed of my typing. Thought about releasing this next week but decided I could end this week on a high note since I'm finally uploading stuff again.**

**So, this chapter was basically meant to illustrate that Shintaro is actually _really _sensitive, emotionally speaking. Like he mentioned in the narration, one of the reasons he tries to keep himself and everyone else smiling is that his emotions can completely overwhelm him if he doesn't keep good humour about things.**

**And on a more positive note, we also have his motivation for doing a good job and getting stronger. We'll get back to his humorous personality next time, I promise; it was just necessary to show his response to the situation here without trying to add distracting comedy to every bit of it.**

**I'm also well aware that Japanese people introduce themselves family name first, but I got confused and jumbled up, so I just stuck to given names first to avoid any glaring inconsistencies. People still use last names out of politeness, though.**

**Here are the harem girls introduced so far:**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare,

**For those of you who remember last time, when I agreed to add some characters from other series to the story, that _is _still happening, but be warned, they're more like OC versions of characters from other series I've made to fit into the _DxD _universe as well as the original plotline focusing on Shintaro which will come into more prominence in the future.**

**Now, before we go out, I'll answer the reviews.**

**Clarent excalibur: **I'll go ahead and tell you Shintaro has Asia since that's relevant to this first arc, but whether or not he gets Xenovia, you'll have to wait and see, I'm afraid. Yeah, I love Koneko, too.

**Derek 23: **Thank you, I will endeavour to do so.

**massone22: **And I'm glad to be writing it again.

**Ryujomaru15: **I'm happy to be writing it again. I figured I'd give him more of a personality to set him apart from Issei rather than just having him be "the other main character" like I felt he was last time I tried to write this story. And yes, as you can probably guess from this chapter, Shintaro is a Rook in this version.

**See you next time!**


	3. The Devil's Work

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

The Devil's Work

"Excuse me, sir, do you have time to talk about our lord and saviour Lucifer?" I asked a random passer-by as I waved one of the fliers I was supposed to be handing out in his face. He duly ignored me, but I managed to slip one into his pocket anyway. "I figured not, but don't worry, he has _plenty _of time for you!"

This was apparently what pretty much all new Devils started out doing, handing out these fliers that are used for making our contracts. All it takes, apparently, is a human with strong enough desire to wish for what they want, and boom! Instant devilry, fun for the whole family! There's this portable machine Ise-nii and I both got given that shows humans with strong enough greed as little red dots on a map of Kuoh Town. We decided to hand out our fliers in different parts of the city in order to maximise the spread of our contracts.

Ise-nii was out on his bike delivering them to people's mail boxes individually. But me? I march to my own beat. I was down in the seedy part of town handing them out to the little blips on the map in _person_.

Part of me thought this was a bad idea, but a bigger part of me thought that since I'm the one being seen handing them out, the odds of me being summoned were pretty high, so the only one who would have to deal with the consequences of my actions was me.

I thought back to when Buchou first revealed our new devilish nature to us.

_"If you work under me, your new lives could be quite bright, you know," _she had said. _"This group of servants I have here, of which you two are now part, it's called a Peerage. Devils who are born High Class, such as myself, get one on automatic, but Low Class Devils have grown to High Class and gained them, too. Especially among Reincarnated Devils, everyone starts out as a novice."_

_"You're starting to sound just a bit like a bad infomercial," _I had commented.

_"Yeah, are you serious?" _Ise-nii had asked. _"I'm still have some trouble believing it."_

_"You know, you two," _she had said, coming closer to say it right into our ears. _"A lot of male Devils become quite popular with the ladies."_

That thought had a definite appeal to it, but I wasn't quite as overly excited by the idea as Ise-nii was. _"How!?" _he asked loudly immediately after hearing it.

_"The majority of Pure Blood Devils were killed off in our war with the Angels and Fallen Angels," _Buchou explained. _"Because of that, the Peerage system was introduced so that High Class Devils could gather servants and replenish our numbers. We just don't have the strength in numbers we did back at the beginning of the war. Devils can breed and reproduce just like humans can, but we also suffer from extremely low birth rates, so it's just not a practical way of rebuilding our population. So we find humans with strong potential and turn them into Devil servants. But since they're only servants, it doesn't really increase the number of powerful Devils, so it was decided that Reincarnated Devils would be given the chance to gain power and influence by rising through the ranks of Devil society. As long as you reach High Class, you can gain your own Peerage and servants, and the cycle continues. There are actually quite a lot of Devils living among humans these days. You've more than likely passed by Devils in this very town without realising it."_

_"So Devils have always been around here then?" _Ise-nii had asked.

_"Yes. Some humans can tell, others can't. People with strong greed and desires who can summon us can usually tell us from normal humans, but not always. It's usually the ones who _can _distinguish us that successfully summon us through the fliers. There are also people like you, Ise, who can tell us apart but don't believe we exist."_

_"So, wait …" _Ise-nii's mouth had grown into an excited grin. _"You're saying that I can get my own servants?"_

I had facepalmed, seeing exactly where this was going.

_"Yes," _Buchou had confirmed. _"It's not impossible. It will take a lot of time and effort to achieve, however."_

_"And just like that, Gremory-senpai," _I had said, _"you've created a monster."_

_"Are you serious!?" _Ise-nii asked in ever-growing joy. _"I can have my own servants!? Can I have a harem!? I can have sex with them and stuff, right!?" _It was not lost on me just how bad that sounded, but I held my tongue. I knew he didn't mean like _that_.

_"Yes, it should be fine if it's with your servants," _Buchou had confirmed.

From there, Ise-nii had embarrassed himself without ever knowing about it by going on and on about all his perverted fantasies, and had even admitted to his porn stash at one point. Our new master had corrected out ways of addressing her and had insisted on being called "Buchou" since we were now part of the club she was running. We also learned about light's unfortunate effect on Devils, which explained why the sun felt like it was trying to kill me during the day, as well as why the Fallen Angels used weapons made of light.

That was a few days ago now.

I was now out and about, trying to hand out as many of these fliers as possible, still trying to prove my worth. Buchou brought me back even though I wasn't particularly special because Koneko-chan asked her to. If I was reading this Peerage situation correctly, she could only have a certain number of servants, so bringing me back had somehow cost her something. I wanted to make sure she never saw me as a wasted investment. I owed it to her to show that I wasn't going to waste this new life and that she didn't make a mistake in bringing me back.

For some reason, though, as I handed out my fliers for the night … I couldn't help feeling like I was being watched.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Dohnaseek was angry. He had gone out to make sure the Devils were keeping their noses out of what was happening at the church he and the others had occupied, hoping he might even get a chance to finish off that Hyoudou brat without his master interrupting this time, when he had come across something interesting: a Devil who shouldn't have been a Devil. Thinking back on the circumstances of Issei Hyoudou becoming a Devil, he could only imagine one scenario wherein Shintaro Hyoudou would become one, too, and he was not happy. Not even slightly.

Dohnaseek looked middle-aged by human standards, though he was far older than he appeared. His short black hair was covered up by a black fedora which his dark blue eyes stared out from beneath the brim of. He wore a light grey trench coat over a white dress shirt and matching ascot, black trousers and shoes, and a pair of black gloves. His wings had feathers falling out as he flapped them behind him, making for the church so he could deal with his new problem.

He landed and stormed into the church, shoving the doors open and letting them slam shut behind him, completely ignoring all the Stray Exorcists as he went. He marched his way down into the basement, where his three foolish compatriots were apparently chatting the night away. Dohnaseek stomped right up to Raynare and got in her face. "Explain," he said.

"Explain what?" she asked like she hadn't done anything wrong.

"You know _damn well _what!" Dohnaseek snarled. "Why the hell is Shintaro Hyoudou a fucking _Devil_? Weren't you listening to me? He was meant to be kept _out _of this!"

"H-He snuck up on me and I panicked!" Raynare defended. "We're not supposed to leave witnesses and he came charging at me out of the bushes!"

Dohnaseek clenched his fists. "Stupid _bitch_," he growled. "You could have ruined _everything_."

"Ruined _what_, exactly, Dohnaseek?" Kalawarner asked him, stepping beside Raynare. She was a tall and buxom woman who appeared to be in her early twenties. If anyone present beat Raynare out in terms of sexiness, it would have been her. She had pretty brown eyes and long, navy blue hair that obscured her right eye. She wore a maroon, trench coat-like top with a wide collar – though "wearing" may be an overstatement, she left so much of the thing open at the top that she may as well have just gotten her tits out – and a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. She also had a gold necklace. "What the hell are you up to? We've been talking it over these last few days, and everything about this operation fucking _stinks_."

"Yeah!" concurred Mittelt. She was a tragically underdeveloped girl in her late teens with blonde hair tied into twintails which had a black bow in it and blue eyes. She was dressed as a typical Gothic Lolita, including a black Lolita dress with white frills, a large black bow on the front, and a green jewel embedded on the collar, with white thigh-high stockings and black shoes. "Watching a Sacred Gear user I could get on board with, but fucking _killing him_? Have you even _met _Azazel-sama?"

"I went along with it because I figured, hey, maybe it was orders from someone else up top like Kokabiel-sama or someone," said Raynare, glaring hard at him. "But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered where the little brother came into this."

"I sent a message back to the Grigori and checked," Mittelt revealed. "I got a response while you were out. We were given no such orders regarding anyone in this town."

"So the real question," Kalawarner concluded, "is what the hell are we doing here? What's your game, Dohnaseek?"

Dohnaseek stared at them … then started laughing. "You insubordinate sluts aren't nearly as stupid as I thought," he complimented with a sinister grin. "But now that it's out there, I'm afraid I can't afford to let you fuck things up for me. You asked the Grigori about this, huh? That's just fucking _great_. You've put me on a time limit."

Raynare scoffed. "As if we'd let you carry on after this," she growled. "You made me kill hurt someone who didn't need hurting, Dohnaseek. I'm going to _enjoy _dragging you back to Azazel-sama kicking and screaming."

Dohnaseek laughed again. "You may think you three have strength in numbers, but you're wrong," he said. "All those Stray Exorcists up there? _Mine_. Provided to me by my new boss."

"What asshole would wanna hire you?" Mittelt snarked at him.

"The kind of guy who doesn't like being disappointed." The flesh on Dohnaseek's face started moving grotesquely. "The kind of guy who can give me powers beyond that of a Fallen Angel." He pulled up his sleeves to reveal the flesh of his arms moving around as though it were its very own organism separate from Dohnaseek himself. "_The kind of guy who always gets what he wants._"

As those words exited his mouth, several globs of flesh just _jumped _right off of Dohnaseek's arms and writhed on the floor, growing and growing until they were the size of people, and then they stood up.

"W-What the hell …?" Kalawarner muttered in disgust.

"What the fuck have you— _ARGH!_" Before Mittelt could finish speaking, she had one of Dohnaseek's spears of light lodged in her shoulder, and then one was swung at her head. She went flying across the room and landed on the floor, soon being set upon by the things Dohnaseek had produced from his body, bound there in a flesh mess.

Dohnaseek brought his wings out and hit Raynare and Kalawarner, who were still pretty close, in the face with them, causing them to stumble back. Then he set upon them with his fists. Raynare created a spear of light, and so did Dohnaseek. Their spears clashed against each other in a constant flash of lights that would kill an epileptic in moments. He eventually got the upper hand by kicking her in her stomach, then he grabbed her hair and pulled her head up, holding a knife he made from light against her throat.

"Drop it," he ordered Kalawarner, who was standing with a spear of light aimed at him. She hesitated for a few seconds, looked to Raynare, then reluctantly complied. The fleshy monsters were quickly upon her and had her bound. Some more came over and did the same to Raynare, who he then dropped to the floor.

Dohnaseek leaned down to Raynare and whispered into her ear. "_Your little hostile takeover has failed,_" he said cruelly. "_Now I'm gonna stick you in a cell. I could kill you, but if any of the boys needs any … _female entertainment_, you girls will come in handy._" He smirked. "_I might even let Freed in with you for a little while._"

He went upstairs and called some of the Stray Exorcists down to get the women locked up. He had some work to do.

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

One day after school, Ise-nii and I were making our way to the clubroom after splitting from Matsuda-san and Motohama-san. It felt a bit weird to have been hanging out with them, to be honest. Ever since I became a Devil, Koneko-chan and I had been … closer, somehow. I can't quite find the words to explain it, but there was something there that wasn't before. I was even getting strangely used to seeing her smile. They were small smiles, but they were there nonetheless. It was nice.

Friendships sprung up fast with all the members of the Occult Research Club, actually. I was now calling Kiba "Kiba-kun" and Himejima "Akeno-san," which was exciting in and of itself. Being allowed to call one of the hottest girls in school by her first name _amazing _for upsetting the rumour mill. I called her that in the hallway a few times, and the fact that she referred to me as "Shintaro-kun" only got people talking further.

Needless to say, I was really taking the opportunity to amuse myself.

"We're coming in," Ise-nii said as he opened the door of the clubroom.

"'Sup, guys?" I said as we walked in and I closed the door behind us.

Everybody was already there. The room was dark and the windows were blocked out, which I assumed was because of the teleportation circle. I figured that they normally did this when Ise-nii and I had left to deliver our fliers. The only light in the room was from the candles on several surfaces, but there were also a bunch of candles surrounding the teleportation circle in the centre of the room now.

Buchou said something to Akeno-san, and Akeno-san faced us directly. "You two, please stand in the centre of the magic circle," she said.

"Ah, so the ritual dismemberments have begun," I quipped as we both did as we were asked.

"Ise, Shintaro, your work giving out fliers is over," Buchou revealed to us. "Well done. Now it's time for you to do the actual job of a Devil."

"So we get to make contracts now?" Ise-nii enquired.

"That's right," Buchou confirmed. "Since it's your first times, we're going to be gentle with you." She totally did that on purpose. "You'll be teleporting to people with smaller wishes. Koneko was double-booked for the night. Ise will be taking that one. Shintaro, it seems like you're being thought of specifically, so I'm assuming this is one of the ones you gave a flier to – well done. Akeno is currently inserting your carved seals into the magic circle."

We were told about those, albeit briefly. There were smaller versions of the magic circle we were standing in that everyone here had drawn on their bodies, though they were invisible unless they were in use.

"Ise, point your palms towards me," Buchou ordered. Ise-nii obeyed. She started writing something on his palm.

"Give me your hand, Shintaro-kun," Akeno-san said, moving away from whatever she had been doing with the teleportation circle. I pointed my right palm towards her and she started writing on it like Buchou was with Ise-nii. Having physical contact with her, even something small like this, made me heat up. Going by the amused expression on her face, she knew.

She stopped and I looked at my palm. On it, there was the smaller version of the teleportation circle, my carved seal. It was glowing blue and white at the moment. I glanced over at Ise-nii and saw he was in a similar position.

"This allows you to use the magic circle to teleport directly to the client," Buchou explained. "When the contract is done, it will also allow you to return to this room. Akeno, are you ready?"

"Yes, Buchou," Akeno-san confirmed.

"Ise, you first," Buchou urged. "Stand in the centre of the circle."

I stepped out of the circle and allowed Ise-nii to stand in the centre. The circle began glowing blue and white, like the ones on our hands."

"The magic circle is responding to the wish of the client," Buchou explained. "You'll be teleported to them now. You still have the manual about what to do, right?"

"Yes!" Ise-nii confirmed enthusiastically.

"Good. Good luck."

The glow of the magic circle became even stronger. I nearly shielded my eyes from it, but I wanted to see this. The light got stronger and stronger, and I realised just how necessary it was to block out the windows at this time of the day. The light seemed to consume Ise-nii …

… and then died down in about half a second, leaving Ise-nii standing there in the centre. Nothing had changed. Ise-nii had his eyes squinted shut. He opened one of them, then both shot open when he realised he was still here. Buchou put a hand to her forehead, Akeno-san just looked disappointed, Kiba-kun sighed in exasperation, and Koneko-chan … well, she was just being Koneko-chan.

"What's occurring?" I asked.

"It doesn't look as though Ise can use the magic circle for teleportation," Buchou sighed out.

"Huh? Why not?" asked Ise-nii.

"Magic circles, like all Devil-based magic, require a certain amount of demonic power to use," Buchou explained. "They don't need all that much, either. It can usually be done by literally _any _Devil, even children. Transportation through a magic circle is the first and easiest step when becoming a Devil. In other words, Ise … you have less demonic power than the average child. The magic circle literally can't detect anything to respond _to_."

…

…

…

"Pft!" I snickered, holding a hand up to my mouth in an attempt to stop myself. "I'm sorry, I-I'm sorry, I j-just— Hahahahaha! No, no, sorry, Ise-nii, I can't— Pft! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH MY FUCKING _GOD! _HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I could no longer stop it. The laughter poured from my mouth so strongly that I doubled over and it started to hurt my stomach. Tears of laughter flowed down my face and I could do nothing to stop them.

"Shut up, you little shit!" Ise-nii cursed at me. "You do it then if it's so damn amusing! Go on!" He stepped out of the magic circle and gestured to it violently.

I waited for the laughter to subside and wiped the tears from my eyes, then stood up. I walked over to the magic circle with a cockiness I didn't know I had. If what Buchou said about "high potential" was true, this shouldn't be too difficult for me. I stood in the centre of the circle, did a mock salute, and said, "Scotty, beam me up!" with a massive grin on my face as the blue and white light of the magic circle consumed my vision entirely.

* * *

The light died down and with it so did my smile. I was definitely in a different place, don't get me wrong, but suddenly I _severely _regretted handing out my fliers in the seedy part of town.

There was blood _everywhere _in here! On the floors, which were luckily of the wooden plank type rather than carpets, on the walls, even a little bit on the ceiling. The real kicker, however, was the corpse in the middle of the room with the man who I assumed with dread was my client standing over it. The murderer, who was also dripping head to toe with blood, smiled at me pleasantly as I arrived.

"Hey, you're that guy who gave me the flier!" he said happily. "So not only was it legit, but you're an _actual _Devil? That's _awesome_! Okay, so how much is it gonna cost me for help hiding this stiff?"

I … couldn't formulate an actual response for several minutes.

* * *

When I arrived back at the clubroom, I imagine my expression resembled Koneko-chan's quite a bit. I couldn't bring myself to _emote_, let alone crack my usual grin. I was about 98% sure I had washed all of the blood off my hands, but I was going to be taking a severely long shower when I got home.

Buchou looked at me as I arrived and noticed my expression. "Did it go okay?" she asked, concerned.

"It went fine," I said. "I did the job and I got paid, no problem. There is something of a personal issue, though."

"What's that?"

"I've been a Devil all of about a week and I'm already an accessory to murder."

* * *

I told Ise-nii about my first and hopefully only experience hiding a dead body as we were heading back to the clubroom the next day. I went into vivid detail, truly venting about it, which got me some odd looks but I just told them I'd finally watched the new _Saw _movie and nobody questioned it again after that. I went right for the nitty-gritty, telling him about sawing the body apart, wrapping it in plastic, dumping it in the lake, cleaning up the client's house afterwards, and all sorts of other shit.

I didn't even really take notice of how white Ise-nii had gone from my description when I was finished. I was about to ask him how his own contract went when we entered the clubroom and I heard about it, anyway.

From the second we entered, the atmosphere was awkward. Buchou stared at Ise-nii with a raised eyebrow. Ise-nii sighed and stepped forward in front of her desk. I sat down next to Koneko-chan, who gave me a small smile, which I returned. She tapped my hand briefly. I had briefly told her about my contract earlier, so I gathered this was a small attempt at comfort.

"Ise," Buchou started.

"Yes," Ise-nii said resignedly.

"You talked with the client about manga, and what happened after that? What about the contract?"

"Th-The contract became invalid … We play-battled as _Dragon Ball _characters right up until morning …"

… _I suddenly feel a lot better about hiding evidence of a murder, _I thought. _That … that's just fucking sad. Is that why he had to rush in to get ready for school this morning? I just assumed he spent the night at one of his friends' houses._

"I-I know that at my age, I should be embarrassed!" Ise-nii admitted. "A-And as a Devil, I should be more embarrassed! I'm very sorry!"

"… On the back of the fliers we give out, there's a questionnaire the client can fill out about our service," Buchou said. "Your client from last night filled his in." She pushed the flier forward on her desk. Ise-nii read it and his face took on a quality of both joy and confusion. "This is the first time I've received positive feedback from a failed contract," Buchou went on. "I honestly don't know how to react to this. A Devil's job is to make a contract with the humans who summon us and take a sacrifice for our trouble. That's why this is so conflicting – by all accounts, you failed your job as a Devil, but the client is still happy with the service … It's interesting, that's for certain. You're a strange one, Ise, but very interesting. Still, you need to remember the basics. You make a contract with the client, you grant their wish, and you take payment. Okay?"

"Yes!" Ise-nii said, nodding quickly. "I'll do my best!"

"Good. Your next contract is already calling, so you might want to get on your bike." Ise-nii nodded and left. "Shintaro, Yuuto, I need you both on this next one. The next client is asking for two young men."

"Yes, Buchou," Kiba-kun said, moving to the circle.

"Good, it'll be nice to have a partner after last night's … _events_," I said as I stood up and stood in the circle with him. It started glowing and then we were gone.

* * *

Have you ever gone into a room and instantly known what kind of person occupies it? The room Kiba-kun and I found ourselves in after teleporting just screamed "middle-aged woman." Mirrors, family photos, crap furniture. We were one wall with "live, laugh, love" on it away from me just fucking this place off. But seeing as I had a colleague with me this time, I decided I would try to act a tad more professionally. I only hoped this lady didn't have any skeletons in her closet – and by that, I mean _actual _skeletons.

The client was a woman who looked to be in her late-30s to early-40s, though she wasn't bad-looking in the slightest. She had that curvy, mature figure you usually see on older ladies in perverted art online or in anime. It certainly didn't go unappreciated. A cascade of blonde hair flowed down from her shoulders and framed a lovely face with a hint of mischief behind its expression.

I wondered what a middle-aged woman would want with two young men, then all the time I spent on the internet filled my mind with filth.

The way she spoke didn't exactly help. "Well, well, well," she purred. "I think you two will work just fine."

"Hello there," Kiba-kun said professionally. "We're the Devils you summoned from the House of Gremory. How may we be of service?"

"Oh, I can think of _plenty _of ways you can _service _me," she said. "But specifically, I need you two at my arms at a party I'm attending. I may have given people the impression that I spend a lot of time in the company of younger men, and they're expecting me to bring a date tonight. I figured bringing two of you will lend some credibility to my claims as well as giving people some truly _scandalous _thoughts about what I might be doing with you two later."

"Well, I'm always up for a good scandal," I commented. "And you make it sound so _enticing_. I mean—"

"We're happy to be of service," Kiba-kun interrupted me. His face and tone were happy enough, but the look he gave me sent shivers down my spine. "Do you have anything for us to wear or will we have to go get changed ourselves?"

"Oh, don't worry, dear, I've got that covered. Here you go …"

It was a very interesting night.

* * *

Getting groped by an older woman multiple times throughout the night _sounds _good, but let me tell you, when it's technically work, it gets old really quickly. So I was actually relieved for the first few seconds when we arrived back in the clubroom, which was completely empty, until I caught the look Kiba-kun was giving me. It was similar to the one he had given me in that woman's house earlier, only more scrutinising.

"What?" I asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"What are your intentions towards Koneko?" he asked me.

"Sorry?"

"What are your intentions towards Koneko? Back there, with that woman, you were loving very second of it. It's got me concerned. I'm starting to see a lot more of your brother in you than I thought was there. You wanna know what tonight made me think?"

"What?" I asked. It came out as a growl. I didn't like where this was going, but I wasn't going to say anything aggressive until I heard him say it.

"I think you have the same attitude, you're just _smarter _about it. You're just good at faking your way to those notches on your bedpost."

I didn't just say something aggressive. I surprised myself by stomping forward and picking Kiba-kun up by the collar of his uniform. I glared up at him as I spoke. "Now you listen here, fuckboy," I growled. "I don't like what you're insinuating. About me _or _about Ise-nii. If anything good came from his date with the Fallen Angel bitch, it's that I saw he really _does _know how to treat a lady. But that's beside the point. Don't you fucking _dare _imply that I'd hurt Koneko-chan. She's my best friend and I care about her. If she ever got hurt because of me, hell, I'd _want _you to fucking gut me. You got that, asshole?"

He stared down at me defiantly … then smiled. "I thought so," he admitted, his friendly tone returning. "Sorry about that, I didn't mean it. I just had to make sure. Koneko is like a little sister to me, and she's really fond of you. I had to make sure she's in good hands."

I looked at him in disbelief, then chuckled as I put him down. "Quick tip, Kiba-kun," I said. "You might wanna practice that routine. Make it sound less confrontational, like. Can you _imagine _if I'd started hitting you or some shit? Imagine trying to explain to the others why you had to kick the shit out of me over what was basically the 'big brother test.'"

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Like I said, just had to be sure. You acted a little too into that client back there. Don't get me wrong, Devils _do _tend to have harems, it was just that you seemed a little too eager despite showing no interest before now. Just needed to test the waters. We cool?"

"Yeah, we're cool. I get it, trust me. I care about Koneko-chan, too, and I'd hate it if she ever got hurt because of me."

"Good. Though, just to make it clear, if you ever _do _hurt her … there'll be trouble."

"Kiba-kun, I would be disappointed if there wasn't."

We ended up going to a 24-hour McDonald's for a late night meal before heading our separate ways. It ended up being something of a bonding experience between us.

* * *

Morning came, as morning always does. I was the only one in the house to notice Ise-nii's absence since Buchou had made the necessary edits to my parents' brains to make them act like either or both of us being gone for long periods of time was completely normal. I was still a bit conflicted over the way supernatural creatures so casually messed with human minds, but I suppose it was a necessity for keeping our secrets secret. I assumed that Ise-nii wasn't there because he had spent all night at the client's house again. Hopefully, he actually got a contract this time.

That's how I wound up walking to school alone that morning.

My mind kept wandering back to my talk with Kiba-kun last night. I had called Koneko-chan my "best friend" when I was talking to him, but my feelings ran deeper than that. I knew it, and evidently so did Kiba-kun. I wondered if the others knew. The more I thought about it, the more I thought … _Should I make a move? Should I confess? _I wanted to. I really, _really _wanted to, but at the same time, the thought that it might somehow ruin the friendship I'd developed with her kept plaguing my mind. It was giving me a headache.

There was a sudden, small yell from a high-pitched voice which snapped me from my thoughts. It came from behind me. I turned around and saw a nun had fallen onto the floor. I contemplated the pros and cons of helping her up, considering I'm a Devil now, but my manners won out and I went over to help her up.

"Are you okay, miss?" I asked as I held out my hand to her.

"Why do I keep tripping over …?" she asked herself. She took my hand and I helped her up. "Thank you very much."

Just then, a gust of wind happened upon us and blew the veil off of her head. I was stunned immediately. This girl … was _cute! _She had that classic combination of long blonde hair and green eyes that just screamed innocence, and she was so pretty. Her nun attire was dark teal with light blue accents, and the veil, which had just blown off, was white. She also had a silver cross around her neck that was giving me the willies despite everything else about her drawing me in.

_Fuck!_ I thought. _Why did it have to be a nun!? THE UNIVERSE SHOULD NOT BE MESSING WITH ME BY DELIVERING A WOMAN WHO CAN'T BE TOUCHED! THE WHOLE "FORBIDDEN FRUIT" THING JUST MAKES THEM SEXIER! _It occurred to me that there was some irony to the fact that I, now a Devil, have always had something of a nun fetish. The "untouchable" angle was always kind of arousing, for it just made the thought of them giving in all the sweeter …

… shit, my Ise-nii is showing. Maybe Kiba-kun had a point …

I ran after her veil and grabbed it from the air, then gave it back to her. She thanked me again and I took in her voice. It matched her appearance perfectly – soft and gentle. It made her sound as cute as she looked. I felt myself blushing a bit.

"Are you all right?" she asked me.

I realised I'd been staring. "Fine," I said, clearing my throat. I took note of the bag she was carrying with her. "You travelling?"

"No, not really," she said. "I was appointed to the church in this town."

_Isn't that place all decrepit and abandoned? _I thought.

"I've been having trouble since I got here since I can't speak Japanese very well," she admitted bashfully. "I got lost and nobody could understand me …"

The reason I could understand her was an ability Devils have that Buchou referred to simply as "Language," which allowed me to hear anything anyone said in my native tongue, which is Japanese. On the flip side, I could speak to anyone and while to me I would be speaking Japanese, to them I would be speaking whatever language they were most familiar with. It was quite useful. I was absolutely _acing _my English classes now, though the writing part was still confusing to me – unfortunately, the ability didn't extend to the written word.

_This is a very bad idea, _I thought even as I said, "I know where the church is. I can take you there if you're lost."

"Y-You could?" she asked, a smile growing on her face. "Thank you! God surely is smiling down on me for having delivered you in my time of need."

Every single word she just said made me uncomfortable, but I kept on smiling as I led her through town towards the church. I knew this was a bad idea, but just looking at this girl's face … I couldn't leave her hanging, it would just be too cruel of me. So I walked and talked and tried to make some jokes, which I swear must have parted her hair as they flew over the top of her head. Eventually, I settled for just asking her how she was finding Japan so far, how I felt about living in this town, all that boring conversational stuff. Somehow, however, she even made small talk sound cute.

Yet every now and then, my gaze was drawn back to the cross hanging around her neck. It gave me the shivers. Every time I looked at it, my instincts told me to run away as fast as I could and put as much distance between us as possible. It was hard to believe such a sweet and innocent girl could be prompting such a reaction from me, but there it was. These were the consequences of living as a Devil, I guess.

On the way to the church we went past the park, where a small yell drew our attention. There was a kid with his mother, but it appeared he had fallen over. He was clutching at his knee, which had a very clear scrape on it. Seeing as he was with his mother, I saw no reason for concern, so I was ready to just move on past. To my surprise, however, the nun girl took us off course and started walking towards the child.

"Are you all right, Yoshi-kun?" the mother was asking the son. I was now unable to avoid picturing the child as a green dinosaur.

"Hey," the nun said as we approached the two of them. Up close, I realised the kid was crying. The nun patted him on the head. "Are you okay? Boys shouldn't cry over something small like this." I could see by their faces that neither could understand her, though the mother's face was giving off some real "stranger danger" vibes. They got worse when the nun touched her son on the knee he had scraped.

But then something amazing happened. The nun's hand began to glow a bright green. The light seemed to spread from her hand to the scrape on the boy's knee. It wasn't as bright as the light from the magic circle in the clubroom, so I could see what was happening, and it was amazing. The boy's scrape was disappearing, as though it had never been there in the first place.

_Sacred Gear, _I thought as the light died down and I saw that the boy's scrape had gone completely. It was the only explanation I could think of, given that she appeared to be human. Unless she was an Angel or something. Which wouldn't have surprised me – she was certainly pretty enough to be an Angel.

"There, the pain should be gone now," the nun said to the boy. She stood up and turned to face me. "Sorry, but I had to."

"No need to apologise," I said in awe.

The boy's mother took her son's hand and walked away at a pace that was, quite frankly, insulting. Though the boy himself turned around as they were walking away. "Thank you, onee-chan!" he shouted.

The nun looked confused, so I told her what he said. She seemed happy.

"So, uh …" I started as we carried on walking. "What you just did there …"

"It's the power to heal," she said. Despite her smile, there was something sad about the way she spoke. "It's a wonderful power gifted to me by God."

Part of me wanted to bring up Ise-nii's Sacred Gear, but that would just raise questions and take this conversation in a direction I really didn't want it going in. If I started talking about that, I probably wouldn't stop, and before you know it, there'll be a church-led lynch mob on the way to Kuoh Academy for my and the others' heads. I didn't think _she _would be the one to initiate it or anything, she just seemed to sweet, but knowing how gung-ho the church could be about literally anything they weren't a fan of, it wasn't a risk worth taking.

We kept on walking until we reached the church. It looked just as abandoned as I remembered. If the cross around the nun's neck gave me the chills, this place gave me an entire fucking winter's worth of cold. I wanted to run. It was just like Buchou warned Ise-nii and I, the church is enemy territory, owned by the forces of Heaven. I _really _shouldn't be here.

"Yes, this is the place," the nun said, consulting the map she had in her bag.

"Super," I said. "Then I shall be going. I'll be late to school if I take any longer. Bye, miss."

"No, please wait a moment!" the nun said, stopping me in my tracks as I made to leave. "Please, come in. I'll make you some tea as a thank you for showing me the way here."

"No, that's fine, don't worry about it," I said, backing away. It felt really bad just being near the place, I really didn't want to go inside. "I was happy to help. I need to be getting to school." I saw her face drop as I went to leave again and sighed. This was going to come back to bite me in the ass, I just knew it … "Hey, my name's Shintaro Hyoudou. My friends call me Shin, so I guess you can, too. What's your name?"

"My name is Asia Argento!" she said happily, the smile returning to her face. "Please call me Asia."

"I'll see you around, Asia."

"Yes, I hope to see you again, too!" She bowed her head to me and I waved at her as I left. As I walked away, I got a sudden feeling of paranoia and I could have sworn that I heard movement in the trees around the building. I chalked it up to the feeling of unease the church itself gave off and kept on walking without paying it too much mind.

* * *

My predictions were 100% accurate – Buchou was _not _pleased.

"Don't ever go near the church again," she told me. I missed that kind smile she usually wore, for at the moment the only look on her face was more serious than any I'd seen on her thus far. "To us Devils, the church is enemy territory. Just stepping into it can cause friction between us and the Angels. I think the only reason you got away with it this time was that escorting that nun there was an act of kindness, but the Angels are always on the lookout. If you went there under any other circumstances, they would have killed you the second they saw your approach."

I'm not ashamed to say that I gulped. I knew the church was enemy territory, I'm not an idiot, but I had no idea just how intense the Angels would be about it. I guess I got lucky I'm a nice guy. _Oh, God, Shintaro, don't you _dare _start it with the nice guy syndrome, it's one of the creepiest guys you can be._

"You shouldn't get involved with people of the church," Buchou went on. "But especially not Exorcists. The Exorcists are our biggest enemies in the church. They have the capacity to do us harm, which isn't something a lot of humans can say. It's especially bad if the Exorcist has a Sacred Gear. You'd basically be willingly walking up to the boundary of death."

"I understand," I said.

"Do you?" She raised an eyebrow. "As a human, you managed to avoid death by becoming a Devil, and even if you _hadn't_, you probably would have wound up in Heaven. But Devils who are Exorcised are just _gone_, completely. They become literally nothing. You'd see nothing, you'd hear nothing, you'd _be _nothing. There is nothing left and you feel nothing. _Do _you understand that?" She paused, and I could no longer meet her eyes. I really didn't understand how serious it was.

"I think you're being a little too rough on him, Buchou," Ise-nii argued in my defence. "I think he gets it."

Buchou sighed. "You're right, I was too harsh," she admitted. "I'm sorry, Shintaro. Just be careful from now on."

"Okay," I agreed.

"Did you finish lecturing the poor boy?" Akeno-san asked. I glanced up and made eye contact with her. "Ara ara, Shintaro-kun, your submissive face is awfully cute."

I blushed and looked away. I went to sit down next to Koneko-chan, who moved closer to me and touched her arm against mine. At this point, I didn't need to look to know she was shooting a glare at Akeno-san. She had gotten more clingy over the past week and things like what Akeno-san had said were met with some hostility.

"Akeno, did something happen?" Buchou asked.

"We received an order for a hunt from the Arch Duke."

* * *

The concept of Stray Devils was one of the most dubious things I'd ever heard. They're apparently Reincarnated Devils who have killed or otherwise betrayed their masters and are thereupon hunted down like rabid dogs because Devils, whose powers are based on imagination and desire, tend to twist into homicidal monstrosities when they let their selfish desires run away with them. Though, frankly, since Buchou implied it's completely okay for a Devil to do whatever the hell they like to their servants, I feel like there's probably room for a grey area in there. If my master was an utter psycho who got off on torturing me, for example, I'd probably kill them and run at the first chance I got, too.

I didn't _say _that as Buchou was explaining it, but it was buzzing around in my head. Another one of those things to contemplate and then bring up later if I got my thoughts fully in order.

The light of our teleportation died down and we arrived outside an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of Kuoh Town. The entire Peerage was here. We were being sent to hunt down one of these Stray Devils. It was luring humans into this mansion to eat. I never thought I'd find myself in a "spider and fly" metaphor before, but here I was.

Because we were outside town at midnight or thereabouts, we were surrounded by real country darkness. No problem for our night vision, naturally, but it was still nice to be away from the artificial light of the city, even if I knew I'd see it if I just turned a corner.

Koneko-chan sniffed softly. "… Smells of blood," she said. She covered her nose with her uniform. I couldn't smell anything.

Another weird thing about being a Devil was that I could literally _feel _hostility, even when the enemy wasn't in sight yet. "Killing intent," I believe they called it. Even though for the moment we were alone, I could sense killing intent coming towards us from the mansion. My legs were shaking because of the sensation. Whatever was waiting in there, it was out for blood.

"Ise, Shintaro, this should be a good opportunity for you to experience combat," said Buchou.

"Buchou, _I'm _the one who tells the jokes here," I said nervously.

"I'm positive I won't be of much use!" Ise-nii said, more obviously panicked.

"You're right, it's still impossible right now," Buchou agreed. "But you can still watch and see what a battle with us is like. Today, just concentrate and look at how we fight. I'll explain the traits of each servant as we go."

"The traits of each servant?" Ise-nii asked.

"The Devil who is the master of the Peerage, in this case me, gives certain traits to the servants," Buchou began to explain. "There's a bit of history to this. A long time ago, during the three-sided war between the Devils, the Fallen Angels, and the forces of God, all three sides had massive numbers and fought for almost an eternity. But there was no winner. All three sides lost the majority of their troops and the war just came to an end, several hundred years ago."

"The Devils were no exception," Kiba-kun continued. "It used to be that High Class Devils led groups of twenty or thirty troops at any given time, though they lost most of those numbers during the war. There were nowhere near enough Devils to rebuild the army."

"And even a large number of pure blood Devils died during the war," Akeno-san went on. "Even though the war was officially over, tensions are still running high between the Three Factions. Even though everyone suffered relatively equal losses and were weakened significantly as a result, we Devils can't let our guard down or become weak without risking being attacked again."

"That's when the Devils came up with a solution," said Buchou. "The Evil Pieces."

"Such a warm and inviting name," I commented dryly.

"Devils with Peerages of Reincarnated Devils can give their servants traits based on the game chess," Buchou went on as though I hadn't spoken. "It was meant to be ironic in a way, given that most Reincarnated Devils were once human and chess is a human game. Chess has since become popular among Devils. But I digress. Devils who are masters, such as myself, represent the King piece. From there, five special pieces were created: the Queen, the Knight, the Rook, the Bishop, and the Pawn. Since making an army was impossible, it was decided that special powers should be given to small groups of Reincarnated Devils in order to replenish our numbers as well as add to our strength. Taking the chess metaphor literally became unexpectedly popular among High Class Devils."

"Popular how?" asked Ise-nii.

"They started to compete against each other in a real life game of chess we came to call the Rating Games. They became incredibly popular, not unlike human sports, and there are now tournaments for them and everything. Showing off the strength of oneself and one's Peerage also helps with somebody's social status. It's because of this that most Devils don't settle for reincarnating regular humans and instead try to find exceptional humans with some already latent ability. I'm not allowed to participate in Rating Games yet on account of not really being considered 'matured' by Devil standards."

"One of the drawbacks of nigh-immortality, I suppose," I said. "_Everyone _is too young eventually."

"Buchou, what are our pieces?" Ise-nii asked. I was curious, too.

"Ise, you are—"

Buchou stopped dead and we all stopped with her. I knew why, I could feel the chills running up and down my body, the killing intent. I could feel the Stray Devil's presence. It was coming.

"I smell something disgusting," came a female voice from the darkness. "But also _delicious_. Is it sweet? Is it sour? Only a taste will tell."

"Stray Devil Viser," Buchou said clearly and without fear. "We have come to eliminate you."

The laughter that emanated from around the room in response to her words was unnatural in its creepiness. Out of the shadows, a body became visible several feet in the air. The topless body of a woman with long dark hair and a killer body that set my hormones running. But there was more. A hideously loud footstep shook the ground as the rest of Viser's body became visible. She was gigantic and beastly from the waist down, with four legs, each having sharp claws, and a snake's tail. Her front legs had humanoid hands with sharp red claws, which matched her nails the closer I looked, and what I assumed was her stomach had an opening with rows upon rows of sharp teeth. Any and all arousal I felt faded away as I looked upon the beast before me. It looked like an exploitation horror movie directed by David Cronenberg.

_Oh hell, I can't believe I was thinking about _boning _that a few seconds ago, _I thought as my mouth hung open. When Buchou said Stray Devils often had their appearances twisted by their demonic power, I hadn't been expecting anything quite like this.

"I see big boobies!" Ise-nii announced oh so elegantly.

"Yes, Ise-nii," I responded. "We _all _see them."

"Abandoning your master and running off to do as you please is worthy of a thousand deaths," Buchou declared, glaring. "In the name of Duke Gremory, begone or meet your death!"

"Oh, give it a rest, you little slut," said Visor. "You always have had it in for me." She reached up and grabbed her own tits. If this were literally anyone else, I'd probably be aroused by now, but that boner was well and truly killed about a minute ago. "You're just jealous because your breasts will never be as as luscious as these."

"Well this got weird quickly," I said.

"This is your final warning, go back to your master now!" Buchou warned.

Viser just went on laughing. I wasn't looking, believe me, I _really _wasn't looking, but there's only so much eye averting you can do when somebody's exposed nipples start to glow red like Viser's were in that moment. Then when beams of light started rapid-firing out of her nipples like lethal breast milk, I started to wonder what drugs I was taking and what insane asylum I had been checked into. It took Koneko-chan tackling me to the ground and out of the way of the shots for me to finally snap back to reality.

I looked back and saw that the lasers had burned the wall away, letting in a light breeze from outside.

"This is one porno I don't wanna be in," Ise-nii muttered.

"Laser gun jubblies …" I said, breathing heavily. "How the hell did her master miss _those_?"

"Don't be a perv," Koneko-chan said as she got off me, ironically giving me _more _perverted thoughts when I thought about the fact that she was on top of me for a second there.

"Be careful," Buchou warned us. "Yuuto!"

"Yes, Buchou!" Kiba-kun said. Then he seemed to vanish before my eyes. One second he was there, pretty near to us, then he wasn't. I could see a vaguely defined blur darting around the room that I assumed to be him. This guy was _fast_.

"Now, then, I'll continue on with what I was saying before," Buchou said. "Yuuto's piece is the Knight. Its trait is speed. As you can see for yourselves, those with the Knight piece have their speed enhanced quite a bit."

_No shit, _I thought as I struggled to keep up with the blur that I now knew was definitely Kiba-kun. He was now going so fast that the _blur _vanished from my sight.

But just as quickly as he vanished, he appeared again, a sword drawn and bloodied by a slash I hadn't been able to see. A second or so after I saw that, Viser's arms were missing, flopped onto the floor, as blood spurted out of the wounds where they used to be at her shoulders. The screech of pain was almost as disturbing as her laughter.

Then I noticed that there was movement beneath Viser … It was Koneko-chan! I clenched my fists when I saw her so close to that monster, incredibly worried but with the logical part of my brain telling me she was fine and had likely done this before. The emotional side was winning out by a narrow margin, but by digging my nails into the palms of my hands I was keeping it at bay with a little bit of pain.

"Next is Koneko," Buchou went on. "She is a Rook. The trait of the Rook is—"

"Damn inseeeeeeeect!" Viser screeched, raising her front legs and slamming them down on the spot where Koneko-chan was standing.

"Koneko-chan!" I yelled in horror, instinctively going to move only for Akeno-san's hand on my shoulder to stop me. Looking more carefully, I saw that Viser's foot hadn't made contact with the ground and appeared to be hovering. It raised a little … and I saw that it was Koneko-chan pushing it up from beneath, not even looking like it was that big a chore for her to accomplish.

"The trait of the Rook is absolute strength," Buchou continued. "And also incredible defence. There was never any need to worry, Shintaro. No Devil of that calibre has the strength to crush Koneko."

Koneko-chan proceeded to demonstrate this point by lifting Viser up entirely by just the underside of that one foot.

"Fly," she said simply, then pushed Viser up, jumping up after her, and punched her in her gigantic stomach, sending her careening to the other side of the room and colliding into the wall with an almighty _smash _that sent brick and debris from the wall scattering everywhere. Seeing Koneko-chan kick ass so easily turned me on a bit, I won't even lie about it.

"Lastly, Akeno," said Buchou.

"Yes, Buchou," Akeno-san said. Her voice remained elegant but there was an undercurrent of excitement there, too. "Ara ara, what should I do?" She started laughing as she approached the recovering Stray Devil.

"Akeno is my Queen," Buchou explained. "She is the second strongest of the Peerage, after myself. The Queen piece holds lesser versions of the abilities granted by the Knight, Rook, and Bishop pieces."

Viser looked at Akeno-san as she approached. Akeno-san laughed softly in her face. "Seems like you still have some energy left in you," she said. "Let's see how you handle this." She pointed her hand towards the sky.

With a flash of light, a bolt of lightning shot down through the ceiling and struck Viser head-on. Her entire body convulsed and started to smoke under the onslaught of the electricity. It sounded nothing like those comedy movies where the person being electrocuted makes those really over the top noises. This was raw, this was _real_, and if the person being electrocuted wasn't such an obvious monster, I would find the sight and sound outright _disturbing_.

"Still energised?" Akeno-san asked rhetorically. "I think you can take more."

Another lightning bolt hit Viser. The results were the same, but the screams were louder.

Then a third time. It was starting to become gratuitous. The most terrifying yet exciting part of it was Akeno-san's face. She was smiling as usual, but her face was red as a tomato and her breathing was heavy.

"Akeno excels at attacks using her demonic powers," said Buchou. "Lightning, ice, fire, all the basic elements. And she's _really _into S and M."

_I knew it! _I said, looking at the flush on her face and feeling one grow on my own. _She _is _getting off on this! _And, God help me, I was kind of getting off on _watching _her. Not for the first time, I wondered just what the hell was wrong with me.

"Usually she's one of the nicest people you could hope to meet," said Buchou. "But when it comes to fighting like this, she won't stop until she's had her fill."

"I am simultaneously scared and aroused," I admitted in a daze. "I am scaroused."

Buchou chuckled. "I'm sure she'd be _very _happy to hear that," she said. "She said you're cute, you know. If you play your cards right, I'm sure she wouldn't mind showing some affection for her 'cute' kouhai." I didn't take Buchou for a tease, but there it was, clear as day.

Akeno-san herself was now laughing like a certified maniac as she continued to strike Viser with lightning over and over again. "How much more lightning can you take?" she asked gleefully. "Don't die yet, okay? I wanna have as much fun as possible before my King finishes you off." She laughed again.

Up until that moment, I'd been subconsciously thinking of Akeno-san as the "normal" one. Now that idea was so far out the window it may as well have been a baby held by Michael Jackson. I feel like that was the real turning point, the exact moment when I realised no aspect of my life would be "normal" ever again. And you know what? I was oddly okay with that. Maybe it was the image of me being "punished" by the newly-revealed sadist that made the change easier on me, but I didn't really care because I had to save that mental image for later in the night.

Akeno-san eventually backed away from Viser, who was little more than a breathing pile of ash and blood and bone at this point. Buchou stepped forward.

"Any last words?" she said.

"… Just kill me …" the previously cocky Stray Devil said miserably.

"As you wish."

A black mass of demonic power gathered around Buchou's outstretched hand, which, when she shot it off, covered the entire mass of Viser's broken body. When the black energy dissipated, Viser was gone, completely destroyed by the power Buchou had just displayed so casually. She hadn't lifted a finger throughout the entire fight other than then. I wondered, morbidly, what else she was capable of if she was able to destroy a creature like that so easily.

"It's over," she said with finality. "Good work, everyone."

With those words, the atmosphere returned to normal. Koneko-chan was by my side and tugging on my cheek over what I'd said about Akeno-san a moment ago. Kiba-kun was laughing at us. So was Akeno-san, but the last few minutes had given me an all new context to her laughing that made me shudder in both good and bad ways. We all turned and started to make our way out of the building.

"Buchou, there's still something you didn't tell us," said Ise-nii.

"What is it?" asked Buchou.

"Shin and I … What are our pieces?"

I listened carefully to Buchou's response. I wanted to know where I fit into all this.

"Shintaro is a Rook, like Koneko," said Buchou. "You, Ise, are a Pawn."

* * *

**Yes, I mixed in some of the anime for the Viser fight because it amused me and allowed me to make an Austin Powers reference.**

**Gotta say, I was _not _expecting this chapter to hit 10K words when I was planning out the story … well done me, I guess. I'm well aware the scene with the Fallen Angels probably resulted in more questions than answers, but that was kind of the point. What's the point of plotting this all out if I'm going to give it away early on? Dohnaseek's weird new powers are part of that original plot, so don't worry, things will be explained in time.**

**The harems as they appear with the characters introduced so far:**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima, Kalawarner, Asia Argento,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare, Mittelt,

**Now, before I go, let's answer some reviews.**

**Dis Lexic: **Thanks, mate, it's really good to be back. Hey, good to hear! I loved _Devils of the Void _and I'll be happy if I get to read more of it (I do believe it was the first fic of yours I ever read, in fact).

**Clarent excalibur: **Akeno is pretty high on my list, as well. I look forward to writing out those particular interactions, too.

**weslyschraepen: **Well, as you can see, Asia is with Shintaro, but Irina … I make no promises. Like I said, the harem is actually already decided and I have it noted down, I'm just revealing it slowly to make things more interesting.

**SonikNaoko: **Yep! Yeah, I figured having him be a jokester would give him more of a personality where the original, I felt, was pretty boring when you get right down to it. Thank you!

**Nivek Beldo: **No, Shintaro was not meant to be a Fallen Angel. Why Raynare got all freaked out over her fuck up … well, there are some hints about it here, but since that's part of the story's overall storyline, I'd rather not spoil it down here.

**yogaratw607: **Again, the harem is already decided and will be revealed over time, so whether or not people are where you want them to be, you will discover eventually. Shintaro does not have a Sacred Gear, but he does have … something else (I'll say no more on that for spoiler reasons).

**Ryujomaru15: **Thank you. I did say in the bottom author's note that other characters from other series will show up, though they'll be changed so they can fit into this universe, so I wouldn't really use the word "crossover" in this instance. Well, seeing as demonic power is based around imagination, he can mimic stuff from anime, anyway, but the actual nature of his potential for growth is very plot-specific.

**Guest: **As you can see, Kalawarner is in there. The others, you'll have to wait and find out.

**Guest: **You'll find out eventually.

**dragonfighter11: **I'm afraid to say pretty much every female in the series is up for the harems. I've done my best to keep things equal between the two, though it might not seem so at first due to the way I'm doing the reveals, so I hope you at least take some comfort from that.

**MentalForge: **I hope "more" didn't disappoint. XD

**See you all next time!**


	4. The Devil and the Nun

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

The Devil and the Nun

Not being able to sleep for a large amount of the night was becoming depressingly normal for me. Unfortunately, my body clock still read it as night and as a result I had no urge but to just lie there until the sun came up. I would sleep maybe an hour, two if I was lucky. The display I'd witnessed with the Stray Devil earlier didn't exactly help. At the time, it had been kind of disturbing, sure, but there was an element of humour to it thanks to the sheer ridiculousness of those laser gun titties, and quite a bit of action, too, which just made me think it was awesome. But now that I thought about it, I had just seen a living, sentient creature _die …_

… and the fact that this _wasn't _bothering me was _bothering _me.

I was aware that _trying _to make myself feel bad over something was unhealthy, but my complete lack of reaction to this couldn't be natural. I kept thinking back on the shaking, burned-up form of Viser asking Buchou to kill her, in too much pain to carry on fighting … and I felt nothing. Not so much as a twinge.

_I don't think I'm getting much sleep tonight, _I thought, sighing and sitting up in my bed. I didn't get much sleep when I had nothing on my mind, with this running through my head … yeah, there was no chance. _I need something to do …_

Then I recalled how Ise-nii had been acting after Buchou told us what our pieces are. For my part, I was thrilled. Supernatural strength and durability wasn't a bad deal, all things considered. Having something in common with Koneko-chan was also a good thing. _Maybe I could ask her to help me figure it out? _The idea was very appealing. Ise-nii, on the other hand, had been told he was a Pawn and had moped all the way home, though he tried to play it off as not bothering him. But I knew my brother and I knew when something was eating away at him.

I decided to see if he was still awake.

I walked out of my room and was grateful for my night vision. Sneaking around the house at night was a lot easier now that I didn't have to blindly feel my way in the dark. Not that I had to walk very far. I went over to Issei's bedroom door and gave it a few knocks.

"What?" he asked through the door.

"Am I safe to come in?" I asked. "You're not jerkin' the gherkin in there, are you?"

"Nope, this is currently an area totally free of banana peeling."

I walked in and immediately saw that despite his words, he was still down in the dumps after the revelation earlier. "I swear I didn't mean to piss in your cornflakes," I joked in an attempt to lift that depressing look on his face. "I thought they were bits of cardboard that were going in the trash, anyway, so I just let loose."

Ise-nii laughed half-heartedly.

I sighed. "Okay, just trying to get you laughing isn't doing it, so let's jump straight to the point. Is being a Pawn really that bad? I mean, at the very _least _you've gotta get something out of the fact that your RPG class rhymes with the most-searched item on your computer."

"Look, Shin, I appreciate that you're trying, but I don't think you can help over this. I'm the weakest piece on the board. I'm the cannon fodder you throw into the enemy first to give the stronger people time to plan."

"Okay, now _that's _horseshit. Have you ever played chess?"

"A little, not much. What's the game got to do with this?"

"The Pawn has one of the coolest abilities on the board. Pretty much all the other pieces only move in one way and have one function, besides the Queen, who can move in any direction the other pieces can. But the Pawn can do something even the Queen can't. The second the Pawn hits the opposite side of the board, it can become any of the other pieces on the board with the sole exception of the King. It's usually the first piece on the board to move and is just as capable of taking down the King as any other piece. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"… I _think _so, but I'm not sure."

"Ise-nii, I'm a Rook, so I'm super strong and that's it. But you? You're a Pawn. I know Buchou said I have great potential for growth, but now that I'm locked into being a Rook, I feel like that can only go one way. Even if I can learn other stuff, my strength and durability will always be my main go-to as a result of my piece. If these pieces are true to the game, however … you could go on to be _anything_. Your potential for growth is, in all likelihood, superior to the potential Buchou recruited me for. _That _is why being a Pawn _is _a big deal, just in the opposite way to how you're thinking."

Ise-nii went quiet for an uncomfortably long time, but to my happiness, that smile I liked to see on his face grew and grew. "Thanks, Shin," he said, his tone far happier than at the start of the conversation. "I needed that. You're real good at this motivation stuff."

"Well, I have to motivate myself to put up with you every single day," I said cheekily. "So I've got a lot of practice."

He laughed. "Fuck you, Shin."

"Not on your life." I stood up from where I'd settled down on the edge of his bed. "I'm gonna go and see about getting my nightly two hours of sleep. See you in the morning."

"G'night, bro."

I went back to my own room and, surprisingly, sleep came easier than it had been of late. Maybe I was finally getting used to this.

* * *

The following night in the clubroom, I was greeted by a surprise.

"Shintaro, could you go with Ise on this next job?" Buchou asked me. "His feedback is fantastic, but his actual performance of his duties has been … lacklustre. I'm hoping that if you go to help him out, he might actually get a contract."

"Sure, no problem," I agreed. I swung an arm around Ise-nii's shoulders. "Hear that, Ise-nii? You're going on a job with ya boy."

"Don't patronise me," he said, pouting.

"Since you're with him, you should both be able to go through the magic circle," said Buchou.

The two of us went over and stood in the magic circle. It amused me to think that this was the first time Ise-nii had done this. "We'll see you guys after the client's done clapping this guy's cheeks," I said, slapping Ise-nii on the back and grinning like a lunatic.

"Wait, what?" he asked, then we teleported.

* * *

The first thing I thought of when we arrived was that we were going to be hiding another body like I did with my first contract. This room was covered in lit candles, the only source of light in the whole house at the moment, from the look of it. The part that made me think we were going to be hiding a corpse was all the blood on the floor – someone had gotten _fucked up _in here. Then, looking around, we found the source.

"_Holy shit,_" Ise-nii whispered.

I grimaced. After my first contract, this wasn't exactly going to send me running off to hurl my guts up, but it was another kind of unpleasant entirely.

This man, whoever he had been, had been mercilessly cut up, as his body was covered in individual, heavily bleeding cuts. He was nailed to the wall upside down in a cross symbol, a bit like the one used to represent the Antichrist in _The Omen _and stuff like that. He had screws in his palms, his feet, and all over his torso. At least one of his organs was hanging out of a wound near his stomach. This wasn't just a murder. There was no moment of passionate anger, no loss of control – this was violence of a far more cold and calculating nature than anything I had ever seen. This was a man who had been tortured to death.

It was fresh, too. The blood was still running freely. Whoever had done this, they'd done it only a few minutes before our arrival.

Ise-nii doubled over and vomited up his lunch from earlier. I patted him on the back. I looked closer and saw that on the wall, in the victim's blood, there was something written.

"It says 'punishment for those who do bad deeds,'" said a new voice as a strange man entered the room. "I borrowed that from somebody important." He didn't look much older than us despite the priest uniform he was wearing. His hair was white and his eyes were red, giving me the impression that he might have been an albino or something, and he had a sick grin on his face, quite clearly enjoying the spectacle he had created. "Well, well, well, if it isn't a pair of Devils!"

Every single word Buchou had said about getting involved with people of the church flashed through my mind as I looked at him. He was dressed like a priest, but if he could do something like this, was he really a man of God? If this psycho was an Exorcist …

"_I'm a priest_," he started to say in a sing-song voice. "_A boy priest … I cut down the Devil scum … And I laugh … I cut off their dirty heads … And put food on my table …_" He stopped singing and grinned at us. "My name is Freed Sellzen. I belong to a certain distinguished group of Exorcists. No, please, don't introduce yourselves on my account, I don't want to remember your names after tonight. It's fine because you'll be dead soon, I'll make sure of that. Don't worry, it might hurt at first, but when it's over you'll feel so good you'll want to weep. Here, let me get the door for you – ZE!"

"Okay, I get that priests are used to talking to large groups of people all at once, but fucking hell, you crazy shit, take it _down _a notch," I said. With every word that exited my mouth, I could feel death growing nearer – it was a bad habit of mine, cracking jokes when I was nervous. "You look woefully underprepared to do your 'God's work,' anyway. I mean, where's the little Timmy you keep glued to your crotch?"

"I left him inside your mother," Freed retorted.

"Hey, was it you?" Ise-nii asked Freed when he finally managed to keep the corpse within eyeshot without doubling over. He pointed at the aforementioned corpse. "Did you kill him?"

"Yes, yes, I killed him," Freed waved off. "He was just some scumbag who was summoning Devils, of _course _I had to kill him."

"What were you even _doing _here?" I asked. "The nearest elementary school is at _least _ten kilometres away."

"What, are you two shocked?" Freed laughed. "Aren't you gonna run away? You guys are really weird. I mean, humans who make deals with Devils are nothing but scum, pure and simple. Just scum. Don't you understand that? No? Well, obviously – you're scummy Devils, after all."

"Well, that sorts out the issue of your sanity, I guess," I said. "Seriously, you gonna string a sentence that makes _sense _together anytime soon? Or are we just gonna stand here talking in generalisations until Hell freezes over."

"How can you kill another human being!?" Ise-nii demanded of the psychopathic priest. "Aren't you only supposed to kill Devils!?"

Freed scoffed. "What the _fuck _is this? Are you _lecturing _me, Devil?" He laughed. "Oh boy, _that's _funny. Really funny. And here I thought specs was the comedian. Listen here, you piece of shit: Devils use humans' greed to survive. Making a deal with a Devil proves that you are now subhuman and worth _nothing_. It's the end of your worth as a human. _That's _why I killed him. I make a living by killing Devils and those that deal with them. That's my job."

"Even Devils won't go this far!" Ise-nii argued.

"The hell are you talking about? Devils are trash. Don't you know what a shitty existence you have? Isn't it just common sense that Devils are pieces of shit? Seriously, dude, you should restart from infancy or something and actually pay attention to the way things are as you grow up. But wait, it's useless to tell this to a couple Reincarnated Devils like you. So I'm gonna kill you both now."

Freed pulled out what looked like the handle of a sword, and a gun. A strange sound vibrated through the air and the end of the sword handle exploded with light, not unlike a lightsabre from _Star Wars_, and a blade of pure light appeared. "You kind of irritate me, so I'm gonna cut you," he said, licking the barrel of his gun. "That okay? Okay. So I'll impale your heart with my sword of light and shoot your fucking head off with my awesome gun. Man, I _love _this job!"

One good thing about seeing Kiba-kun move the other night was that Freed looked practically slow in comparison, so when he came sprinting towards us I had more than enough visual warning to push Ise-nii down and out of the way. I then hunched over myself and held my arms up in a defensive gesture, hoping my Rook strength would save me from the coming blow. I felt something growing on my skin, like it was hardening, and assumed that was my Rook abilities setting in.

Freed's footsteps reached me and he swung his sword upwards. Instinctively, I lunged forward with my arms still in front of me, intending to barge him and knock him off balance. I hit him, all right. I felt the impact.

_SMASH!_

I hit him a lot harder than I thought, apparently. He went flying backwards and smashed through a wall on the opposite side of the room. Debris fell and dust spread everywhere.

I marvelled at my new strength for a few seconds, then remembered Ise-nii. I rushed over to where I'd pushed him down, only vaguely feeling that hardness I'd felt before fading away, when a sharp and burning pain suddenly seared my leg in one tiny spot. I fell down, yelling out in pain, and looked back to see Freed's gun pointing at me and smoking. I hadn't even heard a gunshot.

"_Such a shame you lost your head,_" he said in that creepy sing-song tone he used before. "_The careless Devils who wound up dead … You wore your sin like it was some kind of prize … Too many lies, too many lies …_"

_This motherfucker crawled straight out of a horror movie, _I decided. Watching him approach like a slasher villain unnerved me _way _more than anything else that had happened in this last week or so. And that manic look on his face … This was killing intent, and it was directed squarely at me. It froze me on the spot.

"Shin!" Ise-nii shouted after he saw me fall. He moved to get up only to take a silent bullet to his own leg and collapse onto the floor with me.

"How does it feel?" Freed asked with relish. "These special bullets are made for Exorcists, these bullets of light. And since it's composed entirely of light, it doesn't make so much as a peep. Better than any silencer. _Are you guys as turned on as I am right now_?"

"I'm … afraid all the blood … is rushing outta the hole … you just put in me," I gritted out, clutching my leg.

Freed smirked. "Well, that's good in its own way, I guess. After all, a hole's a hole. Die, die, Devil! Die! I'll keep on having plenty of fun with your _corpse _when I'm done killing you!" Freed laughed madly as he raised his sword, ready to finish us off.

_What shitty luck, _I thought. _The two most inexperienced Devils in town just happened to run into the psychopathic priest. Pretty consistent with our luck so far, come to think of it. Didn't think I'd die again so quickly …_

"Please stop!"

The voice made my blood run cold and my heart stand still. _I … I know that voice …_

Freed paused in his attack and looked at the newcomer.

"Asia …" I said in disbelief. Despite what Buchou had told me, I couldn't look at someone as sweet and innocent as her as my enemy. But if she was here with this lunatic …

"Well if it isn't my lovely assistant Asia-chan," said Freed. "What happened? Did you finish putting up the barrier?"

"_N-Noooooooo_!" Asia screamed as she laid her eyes on the corpse attached to the fall. I was both horrified and comforted. Horrified that she had to see such violent imagery, but comforted in the knowledge that she didn't know what was going on here. It gave light to the smallest spark of hope within me, but that spark was enough.

"Thank you for the adorable scream!" said Freed. "I forget, this is your first time seeing a corpse like this, isn't it, Asia-chan? Then take a good look. This is the fate that awaits all humans who are entranced by Devils."

"… N-No …" Asia finally turned to face Freed and everything else that was going on. Her eyes met mine and widened. "Father Freed … that person …"

"'Person?'" Freed said inquisitively. "No, no, you're mistaken, Asia-chan. These shits here are _Devils_. How ever did you get the two mixed up?"

"Shin-san is a … Devil …?"

I really thought I would be more concerned about my impending second death, but in that moment all I wanted was for Asia to not hate me for what I was. That would crush the hope she herself had just unknowingly ignited in me. I knew letting her know what I was would be a bad idea, but until that moment I didn't realise just how precious our brief moments together had been. I could have gone my entire life and been content with just those few minutes in this angel's presence. But now that look in her eyes … I felt rotten to have had any part in the cause of such a sad look.

Freed took note of the reaction. "What, you guys know each other?" he asked. "Wow. What a twist. Do I detect forbidden love between a Devil and a Sister? Are you being fucking serious right now?" He looked between Asia and me and laughed. "Humans and Devils can never coexist! Especially humans from the church, to whom Devils are the biggest enemies! Even we, heretics who were abandoned by God, can never coexist with the Devils. We can't survive without the support of the Fallen Angels."

I didn't want to think about the implications. I didn't want to think Asia was working with the Fallen Angels.

"This was a fun little distraction," Freed went on, twirling his sword, "but I need to kill this trash now or it'll be bugging me forever. Are you boys ready?"

Freed prepared to swing his sword down upon me yet again.

_A sword of light … If that gets me, I'll die, no doubt about it. And then … nothing._

Even as someone who didn't believe in Heaven, Hell, or the like in my human life, now that I was actually facing the reality of eternal nothingness … it scared me.

But such fear was unwarranted.

Because Asia blocked the sword.

She stood between Freed and me with her arms outstretched in a defensive gesture.

"Are you being serious right now?" Freed asked dangerously. "Asia-chan, do you have any _idea _what you're doing?"

"… I do," Asia said resolutely. "Father Freed, I beg you, please forgive these two. Please let them go."

"Asia … d-don't …" I said, stunned by what she was doing but knowing that if that psycho decided to attack, Asia wouldn't stand a chance. I didn't want to see her hurt, eternal nothingness be damned.

"I can't stay quiet any more," said Asia. "You can't kill people just because they deal with Devils! And you can't just kill Devils! It's wrong!"

Freed's jaw fell so far it was almost comical. "Don't talk shit, _bitch_!" he growled. "You learned that Devils are trash in the church just as well as I did! Is there something wrong with your God damn _brain _or something!?"

"There are good people, even among Devils!" Asia reaffirmed.

"No there aren't, idiot!"

"I … I thought so, too, until recently … But Shin-san is a good person. That hasn't changed even if he's a Devil! Killing someone is unforgivable! God does not allow such acts!"

_This girl … _She had just seen a corpse in one of the worst states she was ever likely to see a dead body in, as well as finding out that boy – in other words, me – she befriended is a Devil, someone she was taught to hate and fear all her life … and yet she isn't backing down from telling Freed what she thinks of him directly to his face. She was so strong-willed that I actually started to feel inadequate.

That was when Freed her her in the face with the barrel of his gun.

"Asia!" I shouted as she fell to the ground. I looked at Freed with absolute _venom_. "If you hurt her, you son of a bitch, _I'll rip your spine out and use it as a stepladder when I'm picking apples in Hell_."

"Dohnaseek-sama told me very specifically that I can't _kill _you," he said as he grabbed Asia and pushed her against the wall. "But _hurting _you and anything _else _that comes to mind is okay." He took his sword of light and cut through her clothes, exposing her body to all of us. "You've pissed me off, so it's only right that I should take out my frustrations on you, right, Asia-chan?"

Gritting my teeth, I stood up on shaky legs. The pain in the leg that got shot was unbelievable, but for Asia, I would endure it. "_Hey, dickhead_!" I shouted at him, getting his attention. "I didn't figure she'd be your type, what with the fact that she's not an eight-year-old boy. Hell, _I'm _probably closer to what you priests are into than she is! So why don't you get your ass over here and we can finish what we started, huh!?"

"Yeah!" Ise-nii said from beside me. He had his Sacred Gear out. "We've got a score to settle, asshole! Leave that girl alone!"

Freed whistled, impressed, and released his grip on Asia, letting her fall to the floor, where she immediately started covering herself up. "Seriously?" he asked. "You two are gonna fight me? You'll die, you get that, right? And it'll _hurt_. I have no intention of making this quick and painless. We are _long _past the threshold of that deal. Now I'm gonna see if I can break the record for the smallest _mince meat_."

There I was, preparing to fight and die for the sake of my new friend, with Ise-nii backing me up. I had no experience. I wasn't expecting to survive. But as long as Asia was there, I wouldn't stop fighting. Freed would have to rip the life out of me and stab _it _to death before that ever happened!

Before we could get into it, however, the floor where Ise-nii and I had transported in began to glow blue and white.

And people were appearing.

"Hey guys, we came to rescue you," said Kiba-kun.

"This looks awful," said Akeno-san.

"Priest," observed Koneko-chan. She laid her eyes on my leg and her eyes narrowed slightly, then she looked at Freed and they narrowed even more.

"A few minutes earlier would've been appreciated," I joked. I was very grateful for their appearance.

Freed looked incredibly excited by this development. "Ooh, I've got a bunch of you to play with now!" He started swinging his sword.

His sword clanged against Kiba-kun's. "Sorry, they're with us!" he said. "We can't allow you to lay a finger on either of them!"

"A Devil concerned about a comrade?" Freed seemed to find the idea hilarious. "What are you guys? The Devil Squadron? Devil Rangers? I can _feel _the heat you guys are giving off between you. I'm getting turned on! So, what's the arrangement? Who sticks it in who, and who bends over? 'Cause I gotta say, specs over there looks like excellent bitch material."

I hated that this fucker had a nickname for me.

"Hard to believe you were ever a priest with a mouth like that," said Kiba-kun. "But that's why you're a Stray Exorcist, right?"

"Well, sorry if I offended you!" Freed said with no sincerity whatsoever. "It's just that I've stopped giving a shit since they kicked me out! Screw the Vatican! I'm more than happy as long as I get to cut down you fucking Devils whenever I feel like it!"

"You're the most troublesome type to deal with," said Kiba-kun. "The kind of Stray Exorcist who only feels alive when they're killing Devils … the kind of Stray Exorcist who causes the most harm to us."

Freed growled. "I don't wanna be talked down to by a damn Devil! What's the big deal, anyway? I'm just trying to lead a happy life like everyone else! Killing pests like you makes me happy. Pests like you have no right to talk down to me!"

"Even Devils have rules," said Akeno-san. She was smiling, but her eyes held nothing but hostility. She was more than ready to kill this guy at a moment's notice.

"Nice," said Freed. "I like the passion in those eyes. You're the best. I can feel the intensity behind those eyes. Is this love? No, this is pure _killing intent_, and I _love _it! This is great! I _love _the feeling of intending to kill and when someone else intends to kill me!"

"Then disappear," said the final person to step out of the circle, Buchou. "I'm sorry, Ise, Shintaro. I never expected a Stray Exorcist to invade a client's home." She looked down at us and narrowed her eyes when she saw our wounds. "He hurt you?"

"Ah, sorry …" Ise-nii apologised. "I guess we got shot."

"'Tis but a scratch," I jested, trying to play it off.

Buchou didn't say anything, but her eyes landed on Freed and they were _cold_. "Looks like you've been looking after my cute servants," she said in a low and intense tone.

"Yes, yes, I've been playing around with them," Freed admitted shamelessly. "I was planning on cutting them all up before you guys interrupted."

"As well as fucking my leg wound, apparently," I threw in. "You haven't been watching _Human Centipede 3_, have you, asshat? 'Cause lemme tell you, _that _will fuck you in the head."

Freed glared at me, though that smirk remained on his face. "I figured I'd start with his _tongue_," he said. "Purely for the sake of _shutting him the fuck up_."

Before Freed could make a move, a section of furniture behind him was reduced to nothing. It was the same power Buchou had used to kill Viser. "I make sure to never forgive those who harm my servants," she said. "Especially not a lowlife like you." The intensity of her tone made it feel like everything was freezing. The killing intent from everyone in this room was palpable. An aura of what I assumed was demonic power surrounded Buchou.

"Buchou, there is a Fallen Angel coming," Akeno-san warned. "And there's … something else, too. I haven't sensed anything like this before, but there are a lot of them. We'll be at a disadvantage if we stay here any longer."

Buchou looked at Freed, likely deciding whether it was worth killing him. "… Akeno, we'll return to headquarters once we've got these two," she said. "Prepare for teleportation."

"Yes." Akeno started working on the magic circle. It looked like we would be running away. After all this, there wasn't any way I could think of to argue against that.

But then I remembered Asia.

"Buchou!" I said, pointing to Asia. "That girl, Asia! We need to take her with us!"

"Not possible," Buchou denied instantly. "Only Devils can use our magic circles for transport, and even then, only members of my household can use this specific one."

"Then leave me here and I'll get her out!" I insisted. "Damn it, I won't leave her!"

"Shin-san." Asia spoke softly, yet it managed to reach me over the chaos of the room. She smiled at me … that damn smile … "Let's meet again."

Those were the last words she said before I was hauled up and into the magic circle. Freed tried to stop us, but Koneko-chan hit him with the sofa, which was quite satisfying to see. But it did nothing to soften the blow. As the light of the magic circle encompassed us and we teleported out of the room and back to base, all that lingered in my head was Asia's smile …

* * *

If Ise-nii had told me that Devil healing involved getting to cuddle naked with a beautiful woman, I would have gotten myself hideously injured earlier. The way it works, it seems, is that you get completely naked and touch bodies in order to share demonic power or something, and somehow that heals your wounds. I wasn't complaining, in any case.

Ise-nii was currently getting the treatment from Buchou, whereas I was nakedly cuddling Akeno-san and enjoying every solitary second of it. She hadn't gone easy on the teasing when we were getting ready to do this, either. We were on the sofas in the clubroom. Koneko-chan and Kiba-kun had already been sent home for the night.

"There are two types of Exorcists," Buchou explained. There was _some _element of privacy between our two pairs, since each cuddling couple was covered by a large towel, so it wasn't too awkward. "The first type is the Exorcist who has received the blessing of God to kill Devils and Fallen Angels on Heaven's behalf. Those Exorcists work under God and the Angels. But then there is the second type: the Stray Exorcists."

"Stray?" asked Ise-nii.

"Exorcism is usually a holy ceremony performed in the name of God," Akeno-san explained, unashamedly rubbing her hands up and down my body underneath the towel and making me feel like my face was on fire. "But sometimes an Exorcist starts to enjoy their job just a little too much. Those who are found to be killing Devils for their own personal pleasure get kicked out of the church, no exceptions. The ones who get caught are killed."

"I t-take it that smug p-prick back there was one of the ones that g-got away," I stuttered out shyly. My hands were occupied with covering my nether regions, lest Akeno-san find out how hard I was. I reasoned that she could probably already tell, but it was still embarrassing.

"Got it in one, my adorable kouhai," Akeno-san said, rubbing her cheek against mine. This woman would be the death of me.

"The ones who escape the wrath of the church usually find work under the Fallen Angels," said Buchou. "Though the Fallen Angels were rejected by Heaven, they still hold the power of light – the power to kill Devils. And like the Devils and the Angels both, they lost a lot of their numbers in the war, so they have been collecting these Stray Exorcists to act as servants."

"So the Fallen Angels and the Stray Exorcists both want the Devils gone, so they team up," Ise-nii surmised.

"Yes," said Buchou. "That's why they're called Stray Exorcists. Dangerous Exorcists with an addiction to killing Devils started going after Devils and those contracted with Devils for their own personal pleasure by borrowing the power of the Fallen Angels. That boy priest from earlier is exactly that, a Stray Exorcist who belongs to a group with the support of the Fallen Angels. They may not be proper Exorcists, but they're far more dangerous to us than the proper ones, who have regulations stopping them from killing us indiscriminately. It's not smart to deal with them. So, the church you took that nun to, Shintaro, does not belong to God but the Fallen Angels."

"… So basically, in going there, I wasn't in serious trouble," I said, "I was in _very _serious trouble?"

"Afraid so," Akeno-san said directly into my ear. "It's actually really weird that they let you walk away like they did. You got really lucky."

Only a few days ago, the implication would have been terrifying to me. But as of tonight, with the last thing I saw before teleporting out of that house, there was only one thing I felt was right to say. "Buchou, I need to save Asia."

"Not possible," she denied me immediately. "How will you fight them? You are a Devil, she is the servant of a Fallen Angel. You two can never exist alongside one another. Saving her means making the Fallen Angels your enemies … If that happened, we would _all _have to fight."

I wanted to argue against her … but I couldn't. She was right about that last thing. I couldn't do anything without dragging everybody else into my shit. I didn't want to leave Asia with those bastards, but I didn't want to make trouble for Koneko-chan and the others, and with tensions between the Three Factions being what I was told they were, I didn't know whether or not fighting the Fallen Angels over a human would cause an even bigger fight to break out. No matter how I swung it, there was no way I could do this without _somebody _suffering for it.

And that made me feel pathetic.

Any joy I was taking in the healing left me then, and when we were done, I got dressed and trudged home with Ise-nii beside me. This time _he _was trying to cheer _me _up.

* * *

I skipped school the next day.

My feelings of inadequacy from the night before had turned into frustration overnight. I kept running the scenario through my head, over and over, and there was no way of doing this without causing serious trouble for somebody. There was _one _thought – go Stray and do it myself so that nobody from my side had to get involved – but I flung that one aside because it was _suicidally _stupid on my part and, given my lack of experience, would have been absolutely pointless due to me being outnumbered, outgunned, and up against people who had _years _of experience on me.

So I went to the park and trained myself for the morning in order to let off some steam. Last time I took up physical activity, at that time being pacing my room, out of frustration, I came to a moment of personal revelation. I didn't think I was lucky enough to have it happen again, but I would try anyway, if only to get rid of some of this stress.

The bullet wounds on my leg left scars. The power of light can hurt us pretty permanently, even after it's healed, so those bullet marks will be there forever. I was also walking with a slight limp, but that would go away with time.

I was interrupted by the rumbling of my stomach. I'd gone all morning without eating, too lost in thought to think about my physical needs.

What I really needed was to get stronger. From the night before, I knew that I had access to my Rook powers, so there was already quite a strong base there. But I needed more. I was newly reincarnated, so even with freakish strength and durable skin (that somehow felt exactly the same as it had before I was a Devil) I was a massive weakling by supernatural standards. If only I was stronger, I could have fought off that fucker Freed last night and gotten Asia out of there without all this fuss.

_So get stronger, _I urged myself, and that was what I intended to do.

I wasn't like Ise-nii with his Sacred Gear. Even though he didn't know what it did yet, it was a power he had that made him special to the people of the supernatural world. I, on the other hand, was just another Devil master's Rook and would probably be overlooked by everyone if I didn't improve myself significantly. I needed to be prepared for other situations like this in the future.

"Shin-san?" said a voice from a few feet away.

I looked over, and there she was. "Asia?" I said, starting to smile.

* * *

We had been in the fast food place for all of about ten minutes when I realised just how sheltered Asia was. Whatever they'd taught her in that church, it sure as hell wasn't any real life skills like how to order herself some food. She was just standing there, making some vaguely confused noises with her mouth, in front of the employee at the register who was just starting to look massively uncomfortable at this point. I'd already offered my help once and been shut down when she said she'd manage it herself, but that was about five minutes ago now.

I had every confidence that she would have gotten there eventually, but I decided to take pity on the poor staff member who was serving us.

"She'll have the same as me," I said.

"Okay," the employee said, throwing me a thankful smile.

"I can't even order a single hamburger by myself …" Asia moped.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "Spend enough time out in the real world and you'll get used to it eventually. It'll just become a normal part of life."

We got our food and went over to an empty table to eat. Asia was getting a lot of looks, though whether it was because she was a nun, because she was cute, or both, I couldn't tell you. I recalled having a similar reaction the first time I saw her. We sat opposite one another and I got to eating immediately, though after a few seconds I noticed that Asia was just staring down at her food with a completely lost look on her face. _What the hell do those churches _teach _people? _I wondered. This girl, cute and endearing though she was, didn't appear to have even the most _basic _pieces of common knowledge and sense that would be required to survive in this world.

"You take the wrapping off the burger," I said. She looked at me quizzically. "Look, turn it over like this, right? Now you see where the paper wrapped around the burger ends there? Grab that and unwrap it. Then you just pick it up and eat it like a regular sandwich."

She did it and the way her face lit up was both adorable and depressing. "Y-You can actually eat like this!?" she said like I'd just explained the meaning of life, the universe, and everything to her, even though what I'd said was less complicated than the number 42. "Amazing!"

"Same with the fries. No need for cutlery or anything, just pick them outta the box and eat them."

She finally picked up her burger and took a bite out of it. "D-Delicious!" she said. "This is delicious!"

"Yeah," I agreed, smiling. "It ain't exactly the finest cuisine, but hell if it isn't tasty." I finished off my own burger, unashamed with the gluttony I was showing. "So you've never eaten anything like this before?" I knew the answer since it was so obvious, but I felt like her talking about it herself might make her feel better.

"No, I haven't," she confirmed. "I've seen this sort of food on television before, but I've never eaten it myself. It's so good!"

"What do you usually eat?"

"Mainly bread and soup. Though I sometimes get vegetables and pasta."

_How … How are you not malnourished to shit? _I asked internally. "Make sure you savour the taste of that, then," I said. "Sounds like you don't eat the good stuff too often."

She nodded at me and kept on eating.

_Why was she in the park? _The question had been bugging me since I'd run into her, but upon being asked she said she was on her break. I didn't buy it. She had been pretty freaked out before I brought her in here, so I thought she was running away. She seemed pretty relieved to see me, so it couldn't have been good, whatever it was. I wanted to ask, but she was just starting to enjoy herself, so I didn't want to plunge her back into that shit-show immediately.

Regardless, I was going to help her. I know what Buchou said about this, but that was back when I would have had to go on the attack to help her. Now that she was here, with me? Some naive part of me thought that would be enough, that I could keep her safe now. I may crack a lot of jokes and appear to not take things seriously, but my head is firmly planted in the real world – I knew there was very little I could do, yet that optimistic little bastard of a voice in my head was telling me that I could help her, even now.

As I looked upon her, smiling as she ate food she had never experienced before, lightning struck my brain. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to keep that smile in place for as long as possible.

_After all, that's what I like doing, isn't it? _I thought. _Making people smile._

"Asia," I said.

"Y-Yes?" she responded.

"I'm gonna take you out today," I announced. "When you're finished eating, we're going into town, and we're gonna have fun. We're together already, so let's make a date of it, okay?" I joked lightly.

Her face went red as a lobster. "O-O-Okay," she said happily.

* * *

We went to the arcade because I'm a teenager and where the hell else do I go to have fun around here?

So there I was playing _House of the Dead 3_, shooting zombies' heads off with what was meant to be a shotgun but could be completely reloaded with a single pump, when it occurred to me that Asia's idea of fun might not have quite reached this level of violence. Frankly, the second I get into an arcade on any day, I jump straight into one of the railshooters with so much enthusiasm that I was once tested for incel tendencies.

"You're really good at this, Shin-san!" said Asia, who fortunately was intelligent enough to realise this was a game and I wasn't actually killing anything, so my worries were slightly unwarranted.

She wasn't quite into this game, however, though she enjoyed watching me play it. Introducing her to YouTube let's plays would be an easy way to entertain her if I ever needed to, I guess. She was pretty good at the games she _did _play, though, which was surprising. Maybe the absence of all the information the church didn't give her somehow made her better at picking things up? I didn't know, but we played a racing game I can't remember the name of at one point, and she very nearly beat me a fair few times. It was crazy.

I finished up with my game and turned to ask Asia if there was anything else she wanted to play, only to find that she was gone. Panicking a little, I looked around and saw her standing next to the crane game, the one that was rigged so the claw grips as loosely as physically possible so that it's still _technically _possible to win, but not _likely _by any means. As I walked over, I could just _feel _the money draining from my wallet because I knew I was going to give in to whatever she wanted the second she told me.

"Something in there catch your eye?" I asked.

"N-No!" she denied. "I-It's nothing."

"Uh huh." I didn't believe her, so I followed her line of sight to a Pikachu plushy that was in the machine. "You like Pikachu?"

"N-No, th-that's …" Giving up on the lie, she just nodded shyly with a red face. It was adorable.

"Okay, then I'll win it for you," I declared.

I put a coin in the machine immediately and started playing, then promptly lost. Over and over again, I put money in and lost. Ise-nii liked to think he was good at crane games, but I stand by my opinion that you _can't _be good at these games because they are rigged to unholy Hell and back. I'd always wanted to get inside one of these and fiddle with it for a joke, make the crane grab tighter or something so that they actually had to restock the damn thing. That sounded like a golden prank to me. But for now, I was going to do this the proper way. Because Asia deserved it.

An obscene amount of lost coins later, I won the Pikachu and handed it to Asia.

Asia hugged the doll to her chest with the prettiest smile on her face. "Thank you very much, Shin-san," she said. "I'll keep it forever."

"If you like it that much, then I'll get you more," I said. "Crane game or not, there are so many Pokémon – that's what Pikachu is, by the way, a Pokémon – that I'll never be able to stop! You'll have a whole room full of these plushies before I'm done."

"That's not what I meant," she said. "This Pikachu represents the wonderful day I met you. Since this represents our time together, I'll never let it go."

It took a lot to make me feel genuinely shy, but those words, those genuine kind-hearted words, had me acting like a schoolboy with a crush … which I guess I technically was, but I'm talking about a much younger schoolboy than myself in this analogy. "We've still got the rest of the day ahead of us, Asia," I said. "So let's go and have more fun."

"Y-Yes!" she said.

I took her by the hand and we continued to enjoy each other's company for hours more.

* * *

The sun was actually setting by the time we were done enjoying out day together, something which surprised me since it hadn't felt like we were out very long at all. Time flying was usually rather pleasant, but on this occasion, I actively resented it for doing so. I would have loved to feel those hours I spent with Asia in real time. In a bizarre twist, by about halfway through the day I found myself mimicking Ise-nii's date with that Fallen Angel bitch and took Asia around the different shops in town. I wanted her to see as much as possible since she was so obviously sheltered from the real world.

_I'll need to head to the clubroom soon, _I thought. _Skipping school is one thing, but I think if I skipped out on my job, Buchou will throw a fucking fit._

I stumbled a bit on the limp in my leg as I was lost in thought. It stung, and I hissed a little through my teeth.

"… Shin-san, are you injured?" Asia asked tenderly. Then her face fell. "Is it from yesterday …?"

I immediately felt like a piece of shit for letting the leftovers of the wound get the better of me like that. We were having such a nice day and I just _had _to go and fuck it up …

Asia bent down to check my leg. "Can you please lift your trouser leg up?" she asked. I did as she said; the mark of the bullet was still clearly defined on my leg. Asia placed her palm on the scar. The bright green light from before appeared, it felt incredibly warm and comforting against my skin. I could feel that it was exactly the kind of Sacred Gear somebody this gentle-hearted should have. I noticed that it matched the colour of her eyes. Then she stopped. "How is it?" she asked.

I wiggled my leg a bit to get a response. I felt no pain. Looking, I noticed that even the scarring was gone. "It feels amazing, Asia," I said in awe. _Seeing _it was one thing, but _feeling _it was something else entirely. "You have an amazing power, it really suits you. That's a Sacred Gear, right?"

"Yes, it is," Asia confirmed.

"My brother has one, too, though we don't know what it does yet."

"Your brother … He's the one who was with you last night?" I nodded at her. "He has a Sacred Gear, too? That's nice."

"Yeah, but like I said, we don't know what it does. But _your _power, Asia, it's _amazing_. So, you can heal humans, Devils, and what else?"

Her face turned sad. "Just about anything I know of, so far," she said. A single tear fell from her eye. Then a lot _more _tears, and she was crying.

"Hey, hey, hey," I said, moving over to hug her. "It's okay. Come on over here …" I took her over to a bench, where we both sat down. "What are you crying about? You can tell me, Asia. I want to help you in any way I can."

That was when she told me a story.

Once upon a time, there was a girl with the power to heal, who the church called a Holy Maiden. She was abandoned by her parents as a child and raised to be a nun by the church, along with several other orphans. At the age of 8, she and the others discovered that she had the power to heal when she was found by a member of the church healing a wounded puppy.

From there, her life changed.

She was taken to the Vatican and praised as a Holy Maiden due to her healing powers. Followers of God would come to her, and she would heal them, being told that her power is a form of divine protection. She never asked for any of this, but she didn't hate it because she was a kind soul who liked helping the people who came to her for healing, and those people were so kind to her. But even though she was happy her power was of use, she was lonely.

She didn't have any real friends.

Those who came to her for healing were not her friends, for they saw her power as something that put her above them. They didn't look at her as a human, but rather as a creature with the power to _heal _humans. And so, she went on being lonely.

But one day, even the small joy of healing the followers of God would be robbed of her.

On this day, the girl came upon a wounded Devil and, being a kind-hearted girl with none of the prejudices the church instilled in its other followers, she healed him. She was _seen _healing him. Healing that one person, that one Devil, turned everyone in the church against her. A power that can heal Devils! Such a thing was seen as blasphemy of the highest order. And so she was branded not just as a heretic, but as a _witch_. The girl who had once been hailed as a Holy Maiden was now hated and feared as a witch. Not one person, not one_ single_ person from the hundreds she had healed, came to her defence. Nobody cared. She was excommunicated from the church.

With nowhere else to go, she joined the Fallen Angels.

Asia Argento, the girl from the story, wiped tears from her face as she finished telling it to me. "It's because I didn't pray enough," she said, laughing weakly. "It's because I'm clumsy. I'm so stupid that I can't even eat a burger by myself. This must be a trial from God. Since I'm so clumsy and useless, He must be testing me. I'll have to endure it. I have a dream, you know. I wanna go buy flowers with a friend, buy books, talk …"

… Fuck _God, _I thought as Asia started crying again. _Yeah, you hear that, buddy? FUCK YOU! How _dare _you call yourself a benevolent creator, a loving father to all, when you let this shit happen to the sweetest girl I've ever met!? What fucking right do you have!? She's been praying to your for help for Satan only knows how long, and you've done _nothing_! Hypocrites! You, all your fucking followers, just a bunch of fucking HYPOCRITES! Well, you know what? I'm gonna do what you wouldn't … I'm gonna help Asia._

I pulled Asia into my arms and tried my best to let the warmth I felt towards her cover her, to make those tears stop. Such a sweet face with tears streaming down it … it looked wrong. "You don't need to dream of friends, Asia," I said tenderly. "Because I'm already here. I may be a Devil, and you'd have every right not to trust me, but I care about you, that's the simple truth of it. And I'll do anything I can to make you happy. You wanna buy flowers? Sure, we'll go right now. You wanna buy books? I can always use more on my shelf, anyway. Not just today, either. Do you have a phone? You can have my number, call me whenever you want."

"… Why?" she asked, looking me in the eyes.

"Because we're _already _friends, Asia. We spent the whole day together. We played, we laughed, we went around the stores. We did a bunch of stuff that friends do. We're the dynamic duo, the Devil and the nun, and I don't care what anyone else has to say about it."

"Is … Is this a deal with a Devil?"

"Nope! Real friendship is on the table right now, Asia. Hell, it's not just _on _the table, it's on your dinner plate, and you'd better start eating right now, young lady. You can stay with me, I'll get you away from those Fallen Angels. I'll treat you right and I'll teach you all sorts of stuff about the world that the church didn't teach you."

Asia put a hand over her mouth and started crying, but the tears didn't seem sad this time. "… Shin-san, I have no common sense," she said.

"Neither does anyone else these days," I waved her off. "With my help, you'll be smarter than ninety percent of the internet in no time, guaranteed!"

"I … I can't speak Japanese."

"Then I'll teach you! I can understand you, so it shouldn't be too hard. Even if it is, I'll buck up and do it anyway. Anything to make you happy, Asia. _Anything_."

"I don't even know how to talk to a friend …"

"You're talking to _me _fine, aren't you?"

"Will you … Will you really be my friend …?"

"That one's an already delivered guarantee, beautiful," I said, making her blush up a storm and smile bashfully. "See, there's that smile I like so much."

I was finding it hard not to blush, too. Every single word I just said sounded like something out of a cheesy romance anime. If anyone from school heard me saying that, my reputation would be down the toilet faster than Kiba-kun can reach the end of the field during outdoor P.E. lessons. But it didn't matter. So long as Asia was smiling, _nothing _mattered. I will never know first-hand how painful it was to do so much good for others only to be rejected when she helped somebody they didn't like, but I would do my best to help her recover from the damage those fucking hypocrites did to her.

Because that's what I do.

I make people smile.

"So adorable yet so stupid." When I looked to where the voice came from, I saw some edgy trenchcoat-wearing motherfucker glaring at us with a smirk. "You two are gonna give me diabetes if I let you carry on, and I do mean in the 'you two are making me terminally ill from disgust' way."

"Who the hell are you?" I asked. I could see he was a Fallen Angel from the wings on his back, but a name or literally any other information would be useful.

"Dohnaseek-sama …" Asia said fearfully.

I snorted. "'Dohnaseek?' Really? Okay, 'Donnie,' now that I've given you a less ridiculous name, I've got something to ask you: The fuck d'you want, asshole?"

"Watch your mouth, boy," he growled at me. "We may need you alive for now, but rest assured, I'm _perfectly _capable of hurting you. _She_," he pointed to Asia, "is needed back a the church. I'd thank you if you handed her over, but … I get the feeling this is going to get messy before that happens."

"You're damn right it is," I said, getting ready for a fight I knew I probably wouldn't win. But I wouldn't back down. "I don't know why the hell you need me alive, and frankly, I don't much care. What I do care about is Asia, and if you can't kill me, then you'd better have a damn good plan for getting me out of the way, 'cause I'm gonna kick your fucking teeth in if you go anywhere _near _her."

He snorted. "Don't get too attached to that life of yours, boy. I said we need to alive _now_, but believe me, you won't last _half _as long as that girl or your buddies regardless of whether you win here or not, and your chances of winning here are slim at _best_. So what's the point of getting all attached? Just walk away and enjoy your life until we come for you."

"Fuck off!" I got ready to charge him.

"Shin-san, don't!" Asia warned, grabbing my arm. "If you fight him, you'll … you'll …"

"Kick his ass," I reassured her. "Asia, I made a promise back there to be your friend and make you happy, and I _keep _my promises."

Dohnaseek laughed. "What a comedian you are!" he exclaimed in amusement. The flesh of his face I could see was starting to move unnaturally, like there was something beneath the surface trying to get out. "But with the introduction of my little friends here, your slim chance goes right down to _none_!"

_Little friends? _I thought in confusion, not seeing anybody else coming.

Just as I thought that, four globs of flesh fell from Dohnaseek's body, three from inside the sleeves of his coat and one from the skin of his face. The flesh writhed around on the floor like living organisms. I took a step back in disgust and felt bile rising in my throat. This … this wasn't normal. I knew from the incident with Viser that the supernatural could be kind of fucked up, but this was a few whole tiers up on the WTF-o-Metre than that. They continued to writhe and grow until I was facing four humanoid creatures composed exclusively from the flesh of that bastard Fallen Angel. They were human in shape, as mentioned, but they had absolutely no distinguishing features between them, and every now and then a piece of flesh would push outwards, almost like there was something inside.

"Neat trick," I said, trying to cover just how shaken up this was making me. "What did they do, get you wet in that fountain over there? Should I not feed them after midnight? Whatever the hell these things are, I'll take them out as well as you if it means protecting Asia!"

"Such foolishness," said Dohnaseek. "I cannot see why the master chose you, but it is not my place to question. Since you won't back down, you leave me no choice – attack!"

The Flesh Golems made their way towards me with jerky, though nonetheless rapid movements that only served to illustrate just how grotesque they were. I saw one or two of them growing from the wrist outwards, with the flesh that grew hardening and taking on a quality not unlike stone, with a point at the end and a fine edge.

_Weird fleshy creatures with hardened flesh-swords coming out of their arms, _I thought. _Fucking hell, my life has taken a turn._

I flexed my muscles to prepare to fight, confident in my Rook strength after I'd briefly used it on Freed the night before. I had to be careful of Dohnaseek, as the spears of light would likely get through my natural defences like Freed's bullet of light had. Irritating Devil weaknesses. I stepped forward a couple of paces to keep the heat off of Asia during the coming fight.

One of the Flesh Golems, which was pretty close by now, took a swing at me, which I managed to dodge. I then punched it and it went flying over to the treeline, but got back up. They didn't seem particularly smart, but being composed entirely of flesh seems to have given them some resilience against damage.

One of the other Flesh Golems, which was also close but off to the side, swung its arm down at me and managed to catch me with that solid fleshy blade. It didn't cut, but I could feel it trying, so I kicked it in the chest and sent it skidding back, then jumped away.

_I could really do with a weapon, _I decided, looking at the Flesh Golems as they closed in on me. _My defences are good and I'm pretty damn strong, but a weapon of some sort would give me a little more reach so their blades aren't really as annoying._

Another one got close and swung at me, and I raised my arm up to meet it in a defensive gesture … only for an incredibly sharp pain to take hold of my wrist as the bone _exploded out of my wrist _and grew lengthways, sharpening at the tip. I yelled in pain as my bone sword met with the Flesh Golem's flesh blade, but it did the trick. Seeing an opportunity while the Flesh Golem's arms were up, I swung my leg at its legs and tripped it up, then swung down the wrist with the bone sword protruding from it, cutting off the Flesh Golem's head in one swing.

For a moment, I suspected the Flesh Golem would simply reattach its head and keep on attacking, but instead it melted away in a gross parody of what happened to the Wicked Witch of the West in _The Wizard of Oz_, only flesh pink instead of pained green.

It was disgusting, yet gratifying. I killed one!

"Come at me, then, you fleshy bastards!" I exclaimed in an absurd battle-cry, the adrenaline getting the better of me.

One of the remaining three Flesh Golems swung at me with its flesh blade, but I viciously blocked with my own swing, knocking it off balance. I then went down low and stabbed it in the stomach – or where its stomach would be if it had organs – and just _wrenched _my bone sword upwards, bisecting it and letting its left and right sides hang apart. It melted, signifying its death.

_Two to go._

I saw from the shadows on the ground that one was coming up behind me. I felt my flesh doing that hardening thing it had done the night before as it swung and hit my back, but its flesh blade shattered against my back. I turned around to see this fleshy thing writhing in pain, doubled over, probably trying to scream but having no mouth to do so. I stabbed it in the head with my bone sword and put it out of its misery.

_One to go, _I thought, excited. _I just might pull this off!_

That's when I turned around and Dohnaseek punched me in the face.

I strongly suspect more experienced Rooks would have been able to take that punch, but as I was at the time, I spun around and fell flat on my face without much of a fuss at all. I tried to stand myself up, but a foot on my back interrupted me. I was about to push up against him, knowing that I was at least strong enough to send him flying off of me, but his other foot came down on my bone sword right where it connected to the bone within my wrist and my bone sword _shattered _apart from the rest of my body.

"_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!**_" I screeched in pain for all the word to see as the bone was separated from me.

"Pathetic," Dohnaseek said, looking down on me. "I can only hope master made the right choice and you'll get stronger later. But for now …" He summoned two spears of light, one in either hand, and turned to face my bottom half. "… can't take the risk of you getting back up too quickly."

The pain from the bullet of light was outright _tame _in comparison with the pain I experienced as he jammed those two spears of light into my legs. I could feel the blood in my legs boiling from exposure to the light and travelling through my veins to take that pain to the rest of my body. It was absolute pain, the kind of burning I had only ever imagined would come from being lit on fire, but even _fire _seemed preferable to this.

"Shin-san!" Asia cried. I couldn't turn around to see her. I was too weak. I could only listen. "Leave him alone! N-No …! Let me go! Shin-san!"

I managed to raise my head just in time to see Dohnaseek flying off into the distance, with Asia struggling in his grip, and a tail of black feathers falling behind him.

* * *

**Did I include too many references to _Hellsing Ultimate Abridged _during the Freed scene? Probably, but it was fun to write, so meh.**

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I think you all know what's coming up in the next one, don't you? The good ol' church invasion. Only this time, Dohnaseek is the big bad, which is, admittedly, somewhat common in _DxD _fics these days, but oh well. I'll try to get the conclusion of the first arc written up as soon as I can.**

**Also … HOLY SHIT! This is already my most followed story! I'm so glad so many people are enjoying this when it's only been out for such a short time! Thanks so much, guys!**

**No new harem members introduced this time.**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima, Kalawarner, Asia Argento,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare, Mittelt,

**Now, before we go, review time.**

**Clarent excalibur: **I dunno about moving in immediately, but she'll certainly be hanging around there a lot more often with a love rival present. It'll certainly be something.

**Derek 23: **Thank you, I shall endeavour to do so.

**MentalForge: **Thank you, thank you, she is a very luscious lady.

**SonikNaoko: **It's actually not as complicating an issue as you might think seeing as Rossweisse is only present for a single Rating Game as Rias' Rook, so as long as she's still around she doesn't actually need to be a _member _of the Peerage. Yeah, Dohnaseek has a bit more to him here than he did in canon, though how that will affect things has yet to be seen, heheheh.

**yogaratw607: **No. The story is, like, 98% told by Shintaro in the first person, so I'm afraid Issei's sex life will be of the off-screen variety.

**ivan meza: **There's only one "NTR" that comes immediately to mind, and I can tell you that it won't be happening in this story.

**Guest: **She might be.

**Ryujomaru15: **Thank you. Shintaro assisting in the hiding of a body was an idea I had while writing it and I just _had _to do it for the black comedy value.

**Guest: **Someone else said the same thing. Like I said before, having her move in might be a bit much right away, but she'll definitely be around the Hyoudou residence more.

**kuwashin4590: **Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the relationship between Shintaro and Koneko. You'll be seeing a lot more of it going forward. Yeah, it's all good, I know not everyone is going to enjoy the decisions I make with this story, I'm just grateful you're so cool about it. Huh … that's good to know. Thanks! That sounds like an interesting idea.

**Guest: **That is a pretty funny idea. As well as being a reference to _Dragon Age II_, I believe. I'll certainly think about it.

**Just a Bad Writer for Fun: **That's fair, not everyone has the same taste in characters, and Raynare is a _colossal _bitch in canon. I'm glad to know you're enjoying it.

**Reviewer Requiem: **Heheh, and I'm looking forward to _writing _Akeno getting serious about her pursuit of Shintaro.

**And that's a wrap, folks!**


	5. With These Strange Powers, I Will Save A

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

With These Strange Powers, I Will Save Asia!

_SLAP!_

Nothing quite like getting a slap around the face after having your leg wounds healed to put you in a bad mood. I hadn't shut up about saving Asia since I got back, despite Buchou telling me no every single time, and I was still going on about it. I guess I finally pushed a bit too hard; even our benevolent – for a Devil, anyway – master could only put up with so much backtalk.

"Buchou!" I was surprised to hear Ise-nii actually yell at her. "Don't hit my otouto!"

"If the amount of times I've repeated myself is any indication, it's the only way I'll get through to him," Buchou said, frustration clear in her voice. "No is no, Shintaro. I cannot allow you to save that nun."

I recovered from the slap surprisingly quickly considering it was the first one I ever received. Kaa-san never hit me, so I wasn't familiar with the sensation. "Then I'll go my damn self," I growled. "I _refuse _to let those bastards use her for whatever the hell they're doing. Believe me, they're doing _something_, and regardless of whether or not _you _think she's worth saving, that's bad news for _all _of us, isn't it?"

"Your actions will reflect on _all _of us. You are a Devil of the House of Gremory. You need to be aware of that."

"Let me out then, if it's that much of a fucking hassle for you! I'll go as me, Shintaro Hyoudou, solo, and it'll have precisely jack and shit to do with anyone else!"

"I can't do that! Why don't you understand, Shintaro!"

"_Because I refuse to believe there is any way in which leaving her in the hands of those fucking sadists is right! _You may not care, but damn it, _I _will not sit here and do nothing when an innocent girl is subjected to Satan only knows what at the hands of that utter _bastard! _Is this how it's done? Do we just leave shit like this alone to make things easier on ourselves? Let evil people do evil things just because 'we shouldn't get involved?' I'm grateful for the second chance at life, Buchou, I really am, but there is _no fucking way _I want to live like that. And you know what? Even apart from all that, there is one reason I refuse to back down on this point: Asia is my friend. I will _never _leave a friend in peril if there's even a _smidgen _of a chance that I can help them."

I could see from the others' expressions that my behaviour wasn't exactly well-received. Not that I was being disagreed with outright, I'd like to think, more the fact that my usual personality, the good humour with which I always presented myself, was completely absent. For the first time in what felt like my entire life I was in absolutely _no _mood for jokes. Not while Asia needed me. Buchou getting in the way of that was bringing forth anger I didn't know I had. Were scenarios like this why some Devils went Stray …?

"… I think it's wonderful that you can say that about her to my face," said Buchou. "But that doesn't affect this in the slightest. The relationship between Devils and Fallen Angels isn't as simple as you think. Our sides have been glaring at each other for hundreds of thousands of years, and if you show them a single gap of weakness, they will come and kill us."

"Good," I said. I summoned a bone sword, shorter than the last one, just to make my point. The adrenaline flooding me kept the pain from bothering me. "They'll run headstrong into the pointy end of _this_, then, won't they?"

She glared at me, and I glared back. There was a time, not too long ago, when I wouldn't have dreamed of arguing against her like this. Knowing that she brought me back when she really didn't need to had filled me with too much gratitude. But now I was too angry to care.

"That girl is originally from God's side," Buchou explained again, like I hadn't heard her the first hundred times. "She's someone we can't ever coexist with. Even if she isn't with the Fallen Angels willingly, it doesn't change the fact that she is an enemy of us Devils."

"She's not _my _enemy," I said simply.

"Even if she isn't, she can have nothing to do with us. You need to forget about her, Shintaro."

"With all due respect, Buchou, go fuck yourself."

Before the argument could continue, Akeno-san came over and whispered something in Buchou's ear. Whatever it was, it looked serious. When she was done whispering, Buchou nodded to her, then looked to the rest of us. "An urgent matter has come up," she said. "Akeno and I will have to go out for a while."

I felt my blood boiling.

"_I'm not done—_"

"Ise," Buchou said, completely cutting me off as she turned to speak to my brother. "There are a couple of things I need to tell you. First, you think a Pawn is a weak piece, right?"

"I did," Ise-nii confirmed. "But then Shin got me looking at things a little differently."

Buchou glanced at me, and for a moment I thought she looked impressed, though recalling our conversation up to now killed that idea. "Well, he was right. Pawns have a special ability called Promotion."

"In chess, right?"

"Yes. Just like in the game of chess, a Pawn can promote to any other piece, besides the King, when it reaches an enemy's base. Ise, when you step into a location I deem enemy territory, you can change to any other Evil Piece besides the King. Since you're a new Devil, you probably don't have the power to Promote to the most powerful piece, the Queen, but any of the other three should be within your reach. If you wish for a Promotion, there will be a change in your power. And one other thing, about your Sacred Gear. Remember this: Desire. Sacred Gears are driven by the power of the user's desire. The stronger your desire, the stronger your Sacred Gear will respond to you. Even a Pawn can take down a King, Ise. That simple rule from the game of chess applies to us Devils, as well. You can become stronger."

The blue and white light emanated from the magic circle.

"Buchou—" I started, but before I could continue making my point, she and Akeno-san had teleported away. I must have really pissed her off if she didn't even let me get another word in.

I took a deep breath and, still determined in my goal, started walking towards the door.

"Shintaro-kun," Kiba-kun said. I turned to look at him. "Are you going?"

"Does shit stink?" I asked rhetorically. "You think that after all that I'm just gonna sit down like a good dog? Hell no. I'm going to that church."

"You'll die," he said. "Even with the Rook's strength and durability, and that new power you've found out you have, if a newbie Devil like you takes on a group of Exorcists and Fallen Angels by yourself, you're screwed."

"I figured. But I need to _try_, Kiba-kun. Otherwise, I'm going against my own nature as well as my promise to Asia. I won't do either."

"I admire your determination, but it's still reckless."

"Then what the hell do you suggest I do, Kiba-kun, huh!?"

"Take us with you."

"… Huh …?" I was dumbfounded. Of all the things he could have said, _that _was one I wasn't expecting.

"I don't know much about this girl, but you're my comrade," he said with determination. "I'll help you. Even though Buchou was so against it, there's a big part of me that respects your decision. That and I really don't like Fallen Angels and priests. In fact … I _hate _them." The sheer venom in those words had me concerned, but it could wait. "Plus, didn't you pay attention to what Buchou said to Issei-kun? 'When you step into a location I deem enemy territory, you can change to any other Evil Piece besides the King.' She's said to you several times these last few days that the church is enemy territory. Don't you get it? She's saying that Issei-kun has permission to Promote in there because she knew he'd go with you."

"… Well holy shit, now I feel bad for telling her to fuck herself …" I said, stunned. The shame washed over me as it did whenever I found out I was in the wrong during an argument. I gathered that she couldn't _officially _tell me to go and attack the place because of the very reasons she stated, but just giving me the tools to do it _without _permission was fine. I figured that was it, anyway – I could have been wrong.

"You should," said Kiba-kun. "If she _really _wanted to stop you, she'd have just locked you up somewhere."

"I am going to grovel like a _bitch _after this," I decided out loud.

"I'm going, as well," said Koneko-chan. Hearing her say that sent my heart fluttering. "I wouldn't be very good at being your best girl if I let you run into trouble without me, would I? And …" She hesitated, as though really letting her feelings on the matter out was some sort of crime. "… I don't like it when you're upset, Shin-kun. It just looks … _wrong_."

"Koneko-chan …" I said. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her in a hug. "Thank you." I released her and turned to Ise-nii. "How about it, Ise-nii? Ready to run head-first into danger with me?"

"Danger?" Ise-nii laughed dramatically. "I _laugh _in the face of danger! … Then I hide until it goes away."

That got me snickering. "Hey, humour's _my _thing. _You _are the mega-pervert."

"True. But it got you smiling, didn't it, little bro?"

I grinned. "Yeah, I guess it did. Thanks, dickhead."

"Any time, little shit."

I took a few steps towards the door out of the clubroom. "Well then, people," I said. "If we're all agreed on this, then let's go kick these feathered fuckers all the way back to the eggs they hatched from!"

* * *

It was fully dark by the time we made it to the church. Not that the night made any particular difference to us, what with our night vision and all, but something about the darkness of the hour seemed significant somehow. "Inviting" isn't a word I would have associated with the church anyway, but now that I knew what was waiting for us in there, now that the sinister nature of its inhabitants was known to me … every instinct I had told me to run.

But I wouldn't.

Hell no.

"There are Fallen Angels in there, all right," Kiba-kun said, commenting on what we all felt. "But … what's that?"

Through the trees, I saw a few of those Flesh Golems wandering around the outskirts of the church, probably patrolling. We were expected, it would seem. I was incredibly surprised to notice, however, that not only Ise-nii, who I expected to be freaked out, but Koneko-chan and Kiba-kun were openly confused and disturbed by the things.

"What the hell are they?" Kiba-kun said again.

"They're these fleshy things that Fallen prick sprouted from his body," I said.

"Why didn't you mention it?"

"I just assumed it was normal. Give me a damn break, man, I'm still new to all this. They're easy enough to kill, if it's any consolation. Though there were only four when I fought him earlier … The increased numbers might make them more of a problem this time around."

"I was not ready for today," Ise-nii muttered, looking ill.

"I don't think any of us were," Koneko-chan concurred.

"Look at this map," Kiba-kun said, laying down a map of what looked like the church for all of us to gather around. "It's pretty common sense to be prepared for enemy terrain," he answered the unspoken question Ise-nii and I both had. "There's a dormitory and a sanctuary. The sanctuary is what we need to focus on, that's where Fallen Angels and Stray Exorcists usually concoct their plans."

"So we can ignore the dormitory?" asked Ise-nii.

"Most likely, yes. Not that the dormitory isn't used, but when it comes to rituals and such, Stray Exorcists will do it in the sanctuary. And I'd hazard a guess that whatever they're doing to Shintaro-kun's nun falls into that category."

"Any particular reason we can be sure they didn't use the dormitory this time?" I asked.

"The sanctuary is a place they used to respect as a holy place," Kiba explained. "By doing something that would insult their God there, they use these places so they can insult him for rejecting them. The sanctuary is right across from the entrance when we go through those front doors. I think we can go straight in. The only issues are finding the door to the basement, which they've almost definitely disguised, and dealing with any enemies that might be waiting for us past those doors."

It seemed like that brought the pre-raid discussions to a close, and our little group of raiders prepared to enter the previously holy building.

But there was one thing I wanted to get out of the way first.

"Hey, Koneko-chan," I whispered to her as I manoeuvred us a little away from the others, though not so much that we would get into trouble easily. "I was just thinking …" I took a deep breath and released it. Saying this seemed a lot easier now that there was a very real chance of me dying in that building. "… After all this is done with, would you … would you maybe wanna go out on a date with me?"

There. It was out there. No turning back now. Even with the threat of death motivating me into saying it easier than before, waiting for her response was honestly more harrowing than the prospect of being killed by a Fallen Angel in that church.

Koneko-chan's cheeks turned a faint pink colour. "… Yes," she said. The happiness in her usually stoic tone got the butterflies in my stomach moving. "I'd love to."

I smiled, my own cheeks going red. "Great," I said.

Then we started walking.

Dohnaseek, that son of a bitch, could sense our presence most likely, so what the hell? I kicked the door open viciously as we got up to it. If he knew we were coming, at the very least I could make an entrance. It looked like any other church on the inside, with that long stretch of stone leading to the altar, and rows and rows of benches on either side. I hadn't been to church in years, and I'd never been willingly – they used to make us go in elementary school every now and then – but I was pretty sure the statue of Jesus on the cross wasn't supposed to be decapitated like that.

Clapping filled the room as we entered. Someone stepped out from behind a pillar. It was Freed.

"Such an emotional reunion!" he said, looking at us, though focusing his eyes on me in particular. "You know, I've never met the same Devil twice before! I take pride in my ability to cut Devils to happy meal-sized pieces on the first date. Give the body, or what's left of it, a kiss goodbye, that sort of thing. But no more!" He pointed at me. "_You _have thrown off my groove! That's no good, no good _at all_. So! Now I'mma kill the fucking lot of you, you filthy pieces of Devil trash!"

"I'm just gonna guess that from here on out all your speeches are just gonna be slight variations on, 'Gah! I want to kill Devils but you don't want me to kill you! This makes me very angry!'" I mocked. "Now that that's been established, can we just get the hell on with this? I've got a cute blonde to rescue."

Freed took out his gun and sword hilt, which then lit up as he released his lightsabre (I know it's a sword of light, but come the hell on, it's a _lightsabre_). I wasn't afraid of it this time, though. This time it was 4 on 1, and Freed was looking very outnumbered right about now.

"So you guys came to rescue Asia-chan?" he asked, laughing. "You Devils really are big-hearted, coming to rescue a stupid bitch like that! Getting friendly with Devils … she really deserves to die like this!"

_Die_. The word vibrated through my body, tensing me up. "Where is she!?" I demanded.

"There are some stairs under the altar. They'll take you right down to her."

"… Thank you …?" I hadn't expected him to be some forthcoming with the information. I really didn't know what to do with that.

"Sacred Gear!" Ise-nii announced as he summoned the red gauntlet to his arm.

Kiba-kun drew his sword.

Koneko-chan lifted one of the pews.

I created a bone sword from my right wrist.

We were ready to get into this.

Koneko-chan threw the pew at Freed, who continued to treat this whole situation strangely by cutting it in half while doing a little dance.

Before the fractured wood could even hit the ground, Kiba-kun was over there, his sword locked with Freed's. It was interesting to note that, despite being composed of light, Freed's sword was still solid enough to actually clash with another blade. Sparks went off between the two swords until something – I don't know what or who – gave, and they started clashing swords. Seeing it, it was easy to believe that Freed really did have a lot of experience fighting Devils; keeping up with a Knight like that couldn't be easy.

As they clashed swords, Freed fired off silent bullets of light, all of which Kiba-kun dodged, and all of which left holes in different parts of the room. I took a moment to appreciate the fact that a weapon made to do "God's work" was destroying a place that used to belong to him.

Their swords met in the middle again and they glared at each other.

"Impressive," Kiba-kun admitted. "You're quite strong."

Freed cackled. "You, too!" he complimented, sound far less bothered by it than Kiba-kun. "A Knight, huh? Not a single blind spot! This is great! This is what I'm talking about! I haven't had an awesome fight like this in ages! I was nearly _crying _from my inability to get my fix! I'm gonna kill you!"

"Then maybe I should start taking this seriously," Kiba-kun said, his voice low and dangerous. "Eat this."

Something black came from the end of Kiba-kun's sword and rapidly covered the whole thing. It was darkness, _pure _darkness. The blackest black I've ever seen. But it looked almost solid, not unlike Freed's sword. As the blades clashed, the darkness began to spread, covering Freed's sword as it had just covered Kiba-kun's.

"What the hell is this!?" Freed growled.

"Holy Eraser," Kiba-kun said. "A sword made of darkness that devours the light."

"… fucking Sacred Gears," Freed hissed as realisation set in. He was starting to look genuinely angry for the first time in the fight.

_So Kiba-kun has a Sacred Gear, too … _I mused. I didn't think on it for long, though. The darkness produced by Holy Eraser had completely devoured Freed's sword of light, neutralising the main thing that was keeping the rest of us from directly attacking. I grinned a grin I hadn't grinned before – it was bloodthirsty, the kind of thing you'd expect to see on someone with a mountain of corpses behind him. I couldn't help it. I kept picturing him hurting Asia, thinking about what he might have done if I hadn't stopped him … and I wanted him dead. _I've never wanted to kill anyone before …_

Being the one producing killing intent was an exhilarating experience in and of itself.

[Boost!] an unfamiliar deep voice boomed. It was coming from the gauntlet on Ise-nii's hand, his Sacred Gear. _Did he finally figure out what it does? _It was unlikely, as he himself looked pretty absent about it.

I only barely registered it, anyway. I was too busy charging, the bone sword ready to swing at the shitty priest the second he was within range. Ise-nii was moving, too. I saw Freed, still trying to hold off Kiba-kun, pointing his gun between the two of us, unsure of which to fire at. Now that he was immobilised, it appeared he was having trouble figuring out what to do.

"Promotion!" Ise-nii declared. "Rook!"

Freed's eyes widened, focusing on Ise-nii. "Promotion …? A Pawn!?"

"Your focusing on the wrong brother, asshole!" I shouted. I had finished my run-up and was swinging my bone sword.

_Schlick!_

I hadn't quite judged the distance correctly, so the slash didn't go very deep, but it was still effective. It cut through Freed's clothes and shallowly into the flesh of his stomach, allowing blood and puss to spill out and stain the fabric he wore over it.

And just seconds later, Ise-nii punched him in the face, sending him flying across the room.

It looked like Freed was going to be having a bad night.

_If I have any say in it, he really fucking won't be, _I thought. "That was for Asia," I added out loud.

Freed got up from where he landed, cheek swollen from where Ise-nii had hit him, a hand on his stomach where I had slashed him. "You cut me up and punch me in the face … then start trying to fucking _lecture _me?" He laughed. "Don't fuck with me, trash." He let out a howl of anger. "_Don't fuck with me! _You pieces of _shit! _No Devils should act so cocky with me! I'll kill you! I'm definitely gonna kill you! I'll cut you to tiny little pieces, you sacks of shit!" He pulled out a second sword of light and lit up the lightsabre-like blade.

But the four of us had him surrounded.

He didn't have a hope in Hell.

Freed seemed to realise it, too. He looked back and forth between the four of us and a smirk grew on his face. "Well, well, this is what I'd call a crisis," he said. "I'm not overly thrilled with the idea of getting killed by a Devil, so I guess I'll be going on the retreat for now. It's a shame that I can't Exorcise you guys, but I don't want to die!"

He took something round out of his pocket, and before any of us could react, he threw it onto the floor and it smashed. Smoke filled the area instantly, blinding me. I had to cough some of it out that I breathed in upon the initial smash. It only lasted a few seconds. When the smoke cleared, Freed was gone.

"Hey," his voice came from somewhere in the room. I couldn't see him and it was echoing, so it was hard to pinpoint. "That Rook who damn near gutted me just then. Shin-kun, was it?"

"Shintaro to you, jackass!" I shouted. "Only my friends get to call me Shin!"

He laughed. "I don't really care, Shin-kun. To tell you the truth, I think I'm in love with you. So I'm definitely gonna kill you. Okay? Okay. Okay? Okay. I won't tolerate some shitty Devil cutting me open and giving me a lecture! Kill ya next time!"

"'I'll get you next time, Gadget!'" I mocked. "That's what you sound like, fuckface. Next time, this bone's going straight through your heart!"

It was pointless threatening him, though.

Freed was gone.

We didn't have any time to waste looking for him. The four of us nodded to each other and went through the door hidden in the altar. Something moved through the open doors of the church far behind us. Those dumbass Flesh Golem things must have finally noticed the commotion and come running. Not that it made a difference. We all went down the stairs and into the basement area.

There were electric lights lighting up the underside of the church, which was out of place for such an old building. Kiba-kun led the way, followed by Koneko-chan, with Ise-nii and me taking up the rear. I was getting antsy worrying about Asia and wished I was at the front of the line so I could hurry this along.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a single corridor with doors on either side. We slowed as we passed each one, presumably so that the more experienced of us could see about sensing anything that might be inside. It wasn't until we neared the end of the corridor that any of us felt anything. It was Koneko-chan. "I can smell them," she said, pointing to the very end door. It was bigger than the others, evidently leading into a larger room.

"There are Exorcists inside and at least one Fallen Angel," Kiba-kun said as we got to it. "Are you ready?"

"Is Freed totally off his rocker?" I asked rhetorically. Ise-nii and Koneko-chan just nodded.

"Okay," said Kiba-kun, nodding back to us. "Then let's go—"

Before he could open the door, the door opened itself. Every single Stray Exorcist and Flesh Golem, of which there were a fair few, was looking in our direction. As was the only Fallen Angel in the room. _Where are the others? _I wondered. There _had _to be more … right? What about the one that killed me and Ise-nii? Something was fishy here.

"Welcome, Devils," said Dohnaseek. He was at the far end of the room standing next to a large cross.

On that cross was Asia.

"Asia!" I called.

She heard me and looked up, meeting my gaze. "Shin-san …?"

"Yeah, it's me!" I said. "We're here to rescue you!"

"I shouldn't be surprised you made your way down here," said Dohnaseek. "Useful though they are, my Golems lack brains, so they're not exactly the brightest. And while I _was _going to give Freed access to my little jailbirds in exchange for his best behaviour, his attempt to kill you the other night made me disallow that." He smirked. "It's so touching that you'd come all the way here for Asia, but I'm afraid you're too late. The ritual is already complete."

"Ritual?" I asked. "What ri—?"

Before I could ask, Asia's body started to glow a bright light, not unlike that of her Sacred Gear. What made this different was Asia's screaming. Hearing the agony in that scream, which tore through me like water through paper, froze the blood in my veins.

"Asia!" I shouted, moving to stop this, but the Stray Exorcists and Flesh Golems in the room got in my way.

"We won't let you interfere!" one of the Stray Exorcists said.

"Damn Devils!" another added. "We'll destroy you!"

Using my bone sword, which I still had out, I stabbed the one directly in front of me in the stomach with no hesitation whatsoever. It sunk into his flesh and a trickle of blood ran down the bone as well as his robes. When I yanked it out of him, the trickle turned into a river as his blood flooded out like a hideous waterfall, followed by what I'm just going to assume were his intestines. I knocked him aside and started to charge forward.

Koneko-chan punched one out of my way, though she quickly had to deal with the ones that were attacking her.

Kiba drew Holy Eraser again. "Looks like I'll be going full throttle from the start this time," he said. "I hate priests."

"Let her go, you feathery fucking handbag!" I shouted at Dohnaseek. "Or I swear to Satan, I'm going to rip out …"

"Did you just call me a 'feathery handbag?'" the Fallen Angel asked flatly.

"… and yank 'em out your nose holes so they rip out your bastard brain!" I finished. I continued to charge forward, taking out the Stray Exorcists and Flesh Golems, which were far easier to kill than the Stray Exorcists, that got in my way. All that mattered was Asia. I wouldn't let anything distract me from her.

I was still a good thirty or so feet away when Dohnaseek took the light out of her body.

"This is it!" he cackled madly. "This is the power I've hunted for, the one that will help my master! With this, I will become an important member of our group! I will be vital to the master!" He hugged it to his chest, and the light briefly engulfed the room …

… and when it stopped, there was a Fallen Angel emitting a glowing green light. One that I had previously seen coming from Asia.

"This is it …" he said in a self-satisfied tone, a smile crossing his features. "With this, I'll never have to deal with those fools in the Grigori again! I have the power to heal! To heal the master and all those other idiots who follow him! They called me mad! _Me! Mad! _They said it would be foolish to mess around in Devil territory given who was here, _who's laughing now_!?" He emphasised the point he was already hammering in with all the subtlety of a Michael Bay production.

By that point, I wasn't paying attention to him.

Koneko-chan, Kiba-kun, and even Ise-nii, who was using his Promotion and presumably whatever his Sacred Gear did to fight off the Stray Exorcists with surprising effectiveness, though his fighting was unrefined compared to theirs, kept the bastards off me as I ran. The Stray Exorcists' attentions were thoroughly drawn to them by that point, though I occasionally had to fuck up one of those Flesh Golems. I retracted the bone sword, something I found came surprisingly naturally to me, as I reached Asia.

"I'm here, Asia," I said as I began to untie her from the cross.

"… Sh-Shin-san …" she said, her voice weak.

"I came to get you out of here."

"You know it's pointless, right?" asked Dohnaseek, who was just watching all this unfold. From the look on his face, he was even enjoying it. "Did your master ever tell you what happens when a Sacred Gear is removed from its original possessor? Death, that's what. Asia Argento is going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"If you gave it back, I could!" I said. Desperation took over and I wasn't thinking about what I was saying or who I was saying it to. I just wanted to save Asia. "You said you need me alive for some reason, right!? If you give it back, I'll … I'll do whatever you want! _Anything! _Just … Just _please _give it back … Please let Asia live …"

He seemed to find this particularly amusing and burst out laughing. "Oh, this is _precious_!" he observed. "The oh so special little boy my group is so fucking _adamant _about keeping out of harm's way, _begging _me!" He laughed again. "You think I'm gonna give this back!? Fat chance! Thanks to those three bitches I had to bring with me, I'm gonna have the fucking Grigori on my ass in no time! There's no _way _I'm leaving here empty-handed after all this! Don't worry, though. There's still time for you to do her if that's what you're worried about. She'll be warm for a couple of hours after death."

"You … _you sick son of a_—"

"Shintaro-kun!" Kiba-kun called, grabbing my attention. "We're at a disadvantage while we're protecting that girl! Get her upstairs! We'll make a path for you! We'll be able to fight better with you two out of here, so hurry!"

_He's right, _I realised, looking around. The Flesh Golems, despite the ease with which they died, were a lot more dangerous now that they had such a numbers advantage, and then the Stray Exorcists with their weapons of light … I had to get out of there with Asia so that the others could fight properly. No matter how confusing and rage-inducing Dohnaseek's words were, I couldn't let him get to me, not now.

I tossed him one last glare, turned around with Asia in my arms, and started running.

"Koneko-chan, Issei-kun!" Kiba-kun exclaimed when he saw that I was running. "We'll cut a path for Shintaro-kun! Issei-kun, you go up after him! If he's carrying her, he won't be able to fight if things go bad!"

"Affirmative," said Koneko-chan.

"Got it!" Ise-nii agreed.

I kept on running, only slightly aware of the fighting going on around me. My eyes were set on the entrance we had come through and that was my only goal. I kept on running, occasionally seeing one of the others jump into my path to take out an enemy that was coming at me. Thanks to their efforts, I reached it in no time at all.

I turned my head back, noting that Ise-nii was behind me, and yelled, "Kiba-kun!"

"Just go!"

"I know! I'm not an idiot! But call me Shin, okay!? My friends call me that!"

Then I started running again, up the corridor that brought us here and to the stairs. There was a Flesh Golem there, probably what had made the noise we heard before descending the stairs earlier, which Ise-nii made short work of. He jumped in front of me and, brandishing his gauntlet against its attacks, used the Rook strength gained from his Promotion to simply punch a hole in it. It was melting when I stepped through it and ascended the stairs rapidly.

I came out into the sanctuary, got to about halfway through the room, and laid Asia down on one of the pews gently. She was pale and her breathing was laboured. "It won't be long until you're free," I said, my voice cracking with the weight of the violent sadness racking my body. "Then we can do all that stuff we talked about. I still need to take you out again."

"… I was happy …" she said. Her voice was weak and quiet, barely there at all. Yet she was smiling. "… I had a friend … even if only for a short while … If I was born again, would you be my friend again …?"

"Well, duh!" I said, not quite crying yet but dangerously close to it. I could feel the tears building up behind my eyes. Yet I smiled back, trying to reassure her. "But what's this about being born again? Come on, Asia, we still need to hang out more. Buying flowers, books, talking, all that stuff, we still need to do all of it. And I need to teach you things. Making all those jokes isn't much fun if you don't understand the punchlines, you know. There are so many things I want us to do together."

My smiles aren't always real, but the one I had plastered on my face as I tried to cheer up this dying girl was the most fake ever. The muscles of my face tried to rebel, pull my mouth into a frown and let the tears loose, but I wouldn't let them, not while she was still alive. If this was going to happen, I wanted to make her as happy as she could possibly be under these circumstances. To let my true emotions show would have been selfish. "We're friends, right? We'll always be friends! I'll introduce you to other people and they'll be your friends, too! Everyone'll love you, Asia. You're so sweet, you'll have lots of friends in no time!"

"… If I lived here … and went to the same school as you …"

"You wanna go to school? Sure! You can come to our school."

She raised a shaking hand up to my cheek. "… It's okay to cry, Shin-san … I don't mind … Thank you, for everything …"

Her hand fell limply from my cheek as the light left her eyes.

Asia Argento died with a smile on her face.

Somehow, that made it worse. I was the guy who liked to make people smile, and here I was, succeeding in that, but in a situation I could find literally no joy in. She was happy in her final moments, which was good, but … I didn't want her to die at all. She was a good girl. She had the most good in her of anyone I've ever met in my life. That sort of purity was rare, and I just witnessed it fading out of this world, right in front of my eyes …

_How did she never make any friends? _I wondered. _What kind of cruel fucking world do we live in that would allow someone this kindhearted to be so lonely for so long?_

Giving her what happiness I had … it was an honour to provide her with the joy she was starved of for so long, but … it didn't feel like I'd done enough.

Kneeling next to the pew, cradling Asia's body, I began to weep. Hot tears spilled down my face.

"What a crybaby," said a voice that filled my every waking nerve with pure and utter _rage_. Dohnaseek had evidently made it past Kiba-kun and Koneko-chan. "_You _are the one so important to our master? _Really? _Such a pathetic creature doesn't so much deserve to breathe the same air as my glorious—"

"_Shut up_!" It was Ise-nii that shouted. I'd never heard him so angry before. I was too distraught to move from Asia's body, but I raised my head to see. He was facing down Dohnaseek without a hint of nervousness. "_You shut your fucking mouth, bastard! _Leave him be! 'Cause your fight is with _me _now, you hear!? _Nobody _makes my little brother cry and gets away with it! I don't give a shit _how _strong you think you are, _I'm gonna knock you the fuck out_!"

"Isn't this sweet?" Dohnaseek continued to mock. "Is that big brother instinct setting in, Hyoudou? Too bad your Sacred Gear is weak as piss."

"What are you talking about?"

"What you've got there is a Twice Critical. It doubles your power a single time. Worthless for a Devil as early on in his time as you, I'm afraid. Twice zero is still zero. Too bad, so sad."

"Oh, yeah? Well guess what! I'm a _Pawn! _I Promoted to Rook as soon as we started fighting that fucking priest! That means I'm twice as strong as a beginner Rook like my brother! So get down here _so I can kick your ass_! _NOBODY HURTS MY LITTLE BROTHER LIKE THIS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT_!"

[Dragon Booster!] I barely registered the voice coming from his Sacred Gear.

"… Very well, then. It's your funeral."

That's when the fight started.

I watched, but I couldn't bring myself to move. All I could bring myself to do was clutch Asia's slowly cooling hand and watch. _I couldn't protect her, _I thought. _I failed … and now Ise-nii is protecting me … I don't deserve it, not after failing like this …_

Ise-nii through a punch at Dohnaseek, who dodged it easily, though I could see a clear displacement in the air where Ise-nii's fist swung.

"Your insistence on continuing with this course of action despite our differences in power is pitiful," said Dohnaseek. Light began to gather in his hand. "This fight won't take long. Then I'll take out your two little friends in the basement. Then your master and any other Devils in this town, just to clean up any loose ends. My victory in the gaining of this Sacred Gear will be marked by the chaos of the fall of a piece of Gremory territory!"

[Boost!] the Sacred Gear on Ise-nii's arm spoke again. Something about that didn't seem right from what I knew, but my emotions were in too much of a storm for me to figure out what.

Ise-nii charged the spear-wielding Fallen Angel with reckless abandon, swinging his fist again. Once again, Dohnaseek dodged, though this time I saw him get pushed back by the disturbance in the air caused by Ise-nii's swing. That blow was stronger, even if it was no more accurate. He was getting more powerful.

Dohnaseek seemed to notice, too. "So you got a bit stronger," he commented. "Good for you. But it's still not enough!" As he swung his spear of light, globs of flesh dripped out of his coat, forming up and growing as they hit the ground and transforming into more of those Flesh Golems. "When they're concentrated like this, I have better control," he said as he successfully nailed Ise-nii in the thigh with his spear, causing him to cry out in pain. "While you're fighting them, you can listen to your friends dying!"

I finally managed to grasp one of the emotions storming through my head, and unfortunately for Dohnaseek, it was the one that would always prompt action: anger. I felt the rage overpower every other piece of devastation that was desperately grasping for my attention. I thought I knew what killing intent felt like when I was facing Freed, but that was the petty urge to punch a bully in the playground compared to what I felt now. I wanted to end a life, to snuff it out as though it had never existed.

But a more reasonable part of my mind, quiet in the hurricane of feelings but still present, reminded me that Ise-nii had already declared his intent to beat the Fallen Angel into a bloody pulp. In response, my rage focused on the new factor in the fight that left Ise-nii at a numbers disadvantage.

The Flesh Golems.

I stood up from beside Asia and things started to happen that I didn't notice or even think of until later. Bone swords emerged from both of my wrists, my flesh hardened into an armour-like density, blood burst out of my back in thin whip-like shapes, my hair moved around atop my head like dozens of tiny little black worms … My entire body reacted to my anger and became something else entirely, a living weapon of flesh, bone, and blood. And in my anger, I was completely blind to the fact that anything about me had changed.

I walked forward in long strides, completely ignoring Ise-nii and Dohnaseek by this point, and without any conscious prompting by myself the crimson blood whips protruding from my back shot forward and grabbed a Flesh Golem by its legs, yanking it down onto its back and pulling it over to me. The second it was laying at my feet, I stabbed down with a bone sword with no hesitation, pinning it to the ground, then slashed the other one sideways, decapitating the Flesh Golem cleanly and efficiently. It melted, as had all the others before it.

I looked around. Ise-nii was still fighting Dohnaseek. He was doing surprisingly well, considering what Dohnaseek had just done to his thighs. But my main point of concern were the Flesh Golems. Dohnaseek had just made plenty, but there were also others, probably leaking in from outside, finally joining the fun. Rather than be concerned, though, I grinned viciously. Plenty of cannon fodder for me to take my frustrations out on. For a man who usually abhors violence, I was really going to enjoy myself here.

I turned around and brutally slashed out with my bone sword, cutting down two of them where they stood. Spinning quickly, I raised my leg and delivered a spinning kick to the side of one's head, sending it careening off to the side and splitting open upon impact with one of the pews. I could feel the blood whips lash out behind me and grab a Flesh Golem by its legs, pulling it up and throwing it over me. It started to come down in front of me and I slashed upwards, cutting it right down the middle and allowing its two halves to fall down on either side of me.

I quickly moved forward and kicked one of the pews upwards and forwards, allowing it to smash a few Flesh Golems in the head and crushing them against the pew in front of the one I'd kicked.

I cut and I hit and I brutalised. I felt nothing but the blood lust pushing forth my every action.

In a fit of bloody rage I charged a Flesh Golem, lowing my head and pushing my shoulder out in front of me so that I rammed right into it and kept on running. We hit a wall that did nothing to deter me and we smashed right through. The dust and debris that landed on me felt irritating. I felt my hair cleaning itself of the tiny stone fragments that landed in it, unable to do anything combat-related due to its short length.

I went to town on the Flesh Golem I pushed into this chamber with. I slashed it several times on the floor and continued to do so even as it was turning to mush upon its death.

It was only then that I looked up and around the chamber I had broken into.

It had been modified into some sort of prison, as I doubted a church would always have had a room full of cell-like structures. The bars on the cells were all made of pure light. There were three Flesh Golems in here that were now slowly shambling their way towards me. But other than them … there was Amano-san, if that really _was _her name, and two others, each of them in a separate cell.

_Jailbirds, _I recalled Dohnaseek saying.

_Three girls … presumably all Fallen Angels … in cells … He said he'd let Freed in … _The pieces were coming together, getting through my haze of mad fury, and despite how much I should have hated at least one of these three, I felt more than a little pity for them all. _How long have they been in here?_

One of the Flesh Golems made for my arm as I was thinking, but the blood whips jutting from my back lashed at his head, taking it clean in half. The top half slid off in an almost comical fashion as the rest of the body just sort of melted away.

I immediately reacted, snapping back into action. I picked up one of the other two Flesh Golems by its throat and threw it into the other one. They collided and flew back, hitting the wall, one sandwiching the other between itself and the wall. I took advantage of that. I leapt forward and, before they had a chance to move from their position, stabbed forward with my bone sword, impaling both of them in one move.

A tiny bit of bone broke away as it hit the wall, which hurt, but nowhere near as much as when Dohnaseek snapped an entire sword off earlier.

I looked around at the cells. The occupants were now staring with rapt attention, especially Amano-san. Looking each of them in the eyes in turn – Amano-san looked away – I began to think about what to do …

_I can't leave them in here, _I decided, sighing. _They're just more of Dohnaseek's victims._

I knew touching the light was a bad idea, but luckily, I'm a Rook. I punched out the walls between the cells and the whole structure just kind of collapsed. It looked like a rushed job, probably improvised on the fly, so it didn't surprise me that once the walls were gone, the bars of light made precious little difference to the escapees.

"Help or leave," I snapped at the three of them as they were freed. "I don't care which!"

Then I marched out through the hole I'd made in the wall and got back to what I was doing without taking so much as a second glance at the Fallen Angels I'd just freed.

I kicked a Flesh Golem that had been following me in the chest as I marched. It flew out into the main sanctuary and I knelt, driving my bone sword into it. I swing the other out behind me, bisecting the Flesh Golem that had been coming from behind me. I noticed another coming at me from behind, but before it could reach me, I saw a spear of light fly from the chamber I'd just left and impale it through the back. It completely vaporised it.

_So, they decided to help, _I thought, feeling an inkling of respect for the three of them. "If you're dead set on helping, go downstairs!" I called back to them. "Our friends are down there and outnumbered!" I thought Koneko-chan and Kiba-kun were probably fine, but things were pretty much dealt with up here, and … the thought of Koneko-chan potentially being in trouble gave me chills. I'd already lost Asia, I couldn't lose my best girl, too …

I didn't wait to see if they did as they were told. I kept moving forwards, but looking around, I saw that I had gotten rid of all the Flesh Golems. Evidently, there weren't as many as I'd thought.

"—just one hit," Ise-nii was saying, glaring at Dohnaseek. He was looking surprisingly sturdy, considering. "Please let me hit him."

He stepped forward. I could tell from the look on his face that he was in pain, but he kept going, his legs— No, his entire _body _shaking from the exertion this was taking. The sheer determination my brother was displaying in trying to get at Dohnaseek …

… _He's doing this because I was crying …? _I thought, baffled. _I … I had no idea he'd get this intense over me …_

"I-Impossible!" Dohnaseek exclaimed in shock and outrage. "You're not in any condition to move! The light—" He made eye contact with Ise-nii and started shaking, though for a whole other reason than Ise-nii. "… There's no way you should be able to stand! You're only a new Devil! A Low Class, Reincarnated Devil! The light should be burning you from the inside out! You don't even have the demonic power to ease off the stress of the light!"

"Yeah, it hurts," Ise-nii confirmed. "It _really _hurts. I can feel myself about to pass out. But the hate I feel for you right now _far _outdoes the pain." He glanced down at his gauntlet. "Hey, Sacred Gear. You still have the power to punch this bastard in front of me, right? Then let's finish it."

[Explosion!] the voice from his Sacred Gear bellowed. The jewel at the centre started emanating a bright green light (there seemed to be a lot of that going around today). As the light touched his body, Ise-nii's pained expression became one of serenity, like it numbed or undid all the damage the spears of light had done to him. Something about the power coming from his Sacred Gear … I was in awe of it.

Ise-nii took a step forwards. Blood dripped onto the floor from the holes in his thighs. He pulled his fist back like he was about to punch.

"… What is this?" Dohnaseek asked, no sounding genuinely scared. Hearing that tone brought me so much satisfaction. "Your Sacred Gear … Isn't it meant to be a Twice Critical? This isn't possible! Why is your power surpassing mine!? The power I'm feeling from you is like a Middle Class Devil … or even a High Class Devil …" He started to back away like he was staring down a monster. "This can't be happening! I defied the Grigori for this! I accepted the righteous path, serving my master, and gained the power of healing because of it! This shouldn't be happening! I won't lose to some jumped-up little shit like you!"

Dohnaseek hurled a spear of light at Ise-nii.

Ise-nii, with a single wave of his gauntlet-covered arm, batted it aside.

Dohnaseek's face went white as a sheet. His wings started flapping. "No!" he denied vehemently.

Ise-nii took what looked like a single step and appeared next to Dohnaseek, grabbing his arm. He was moving like a Knight despite having promoted to a Rook. _Just what is that Sacred Gear doing to him …? _I wondered in amazement.

"I won't let you get away," he said, looking to me like an absolute badass of a big bro.

"I won't be taken out by the likes of you!"

"Go to Hell, you shitty Angel!"

The light seemed to grow even brighter as Ise-nii reared his fist back and plunged it forward in what had to be the hardest punch I've ever seen. It nailed Dohnaseek right in the face, which I could have sworn practically caved in from the impact. Dohnaseek went flying back from the impact of Ise-nii's fist, colliding with a wall that did nothing to stop his path, and crashed outside the church somewhere, leaving a hole in the wall behind him. There was a scar in the ground outside from where he kept going after flying through the wall, and there the prick himself was at the end of it, slumped down and not moving. I didn't know if he was dead and, frankly, I didn't really care. He was dealt with, either way.

"Serves you right," Ise-nii said.

"You could work on your one-liners a little," I commented without any enthusiasm.

He looked at me. "You okay?"

"No, not really." I moved back over to where Asia was lying dead. "I'm … I'm not sure when I'll be okay, to be honest, Ise-nii." I sniffled as I knelt down beside her once again. The anger had drained out of me, the adrenaline that had been fuelling my actions dying down with it. I suddenly felt exhausted. "We won … but she's not coming back …" I started crying. "It's not fair … She never hurt anybody … She was the nicest person I've ever met … _Why _…?"

I felt Ise-nii's hand on my shoulder. Then I felt it slip off as he fell to his side.

"You did good, Issei-kun," Kiba-kun said as he caught my brother. "You actually managed to beat a Fallen Angel."

"It's Ise to you," said Ise-nii, panting. "To everyone now." I could hear a grin in his voice when he next spoke. "You're late, Casanova."

"Koneko-chan and I got a little caught up downstairs," Kiba-kun explained. "Those fleshy things weren't too difficult to deal with, but their numbers plus the Stray Exorcists … We'd still be down there fighting if it weren't for Shin-kun's new _friends_." He spat the word "friends" with venom. I gathered that meant the Fallen Angels I'd freed had gone downstairs like I'd said. "Even without all that, Buchou told me not to interfere with the Fallen Angel man."

"That's right," said Buchou. My attention really _must _have been fixed on Asia; I hadn't even heard her arrive. "Truth be told, I thought Shintaro would be the one to fight the Fallen Angel known as Dohnaseek, but given the circumstances, it isn't entirely surprising you fought him instead." She stepped closer. "The rather unfortunate manner of instigation aside, this fight has done wonders for your Sacred Gear, Ise."

"Buchou?" asked Ise-nii. "Where did you come from?"

"The basement," she revealed. "I finished my business, so I used the magic circle to come here. It was my first time teleporting to a church, so I was nervous." That explained why I didn't hear or see her coming. Her appearing down there must have made short work of the remaining enemies, so sending the Fallen Angels down hadn't been entirely necessary. "Looks like you won safely."

"'Safe' isn't exactly the word I would use to describe it," said Ise-nii. "'Alive' works, though."

"Just as expected from my servant."

"The church is a mess," Akeno-san commented. "Buchou, is it all right?"

"… Is something wrong?" asked Ise-nii.

"Churches belong to God and the religions that worship him," Buchou explained, "but there are cases like this where they are used by the Fallen Angels instead. If we Devils damage a church, there will be times where we are targetted by agents of Heaven for revenge." She left it silent for just enough time to be worrying. "But there's no need to worry about that this time. This church was abandoned for a long time before the Fallen Angels settled in it. As far as any officials are concerned, we just happened to have a confrontation here, no invasion on the Angels' territory. Nothing worth restarting a war over."

"Buchou, I've brought it." Koneko-chan's voice was the first thing that snapped me out of my grief over Asia enough to get me to look at everyone else. Everyone was here, even the Fallen Angel girls, though they were standing a little way away from us and everyone was taking distrustful glances at them every now and then. Koneko-chan was dragging Dohnaseek's unconscious body near us.

"Thank you, Koneko," said Buchou. "Now, let's wake him up. Akeno."

"Yes."

Akeno-san lifted her arm up and water formed in the air, which she then splashed all over Dohnaseek's face. He awoke with a start, coughing and sputtering on the water.

"How are you doing, Fallen Angel Dohnaseek?" Buchou asked.

Dohnaseek looked at her, dazed, for a few moments, then seemed to snap back to reality. "… Daughter of the Gremory Clan …" he said in what was little more than a mutter.

"Yes, I believe we've met before, the _first _time you attacked one of my adorable servants. It's nice to meet you again, even if it won't be for very long."

He scoffed at her. "You think you've got me? Ha! I'm not the only one, you know. I come from a group. They'll come for me! They'll have to! With the power I gained this day, they'll be clamouring to have me with them!"

"After the report we sent before you imprisoned us, the closest thing to a friendly face you'll be seeing anytime soon is from the Grigori," said the Fallen Angel I knew as Amano-san. "But regardless of what they want to know from you, I doubt they'll complain if we tell them you got yourself killed in a fight with the local Devils. It would be my genuine pleasure to be able to tell them that." The amount of hate in her voice made my not exactly stellar opinion of her raise. It occurred to me, not for the first time, that she was probably a simple pawn in all this.

"And you can bet your ass we'll corroborate her story!" said the short blonde one.

Dohnaseek looked at them and grew more pale by the second.

"We managed to get the whole plan out of one of your Stray Exorcists just a little while before we came here," said Buchou. "Akeno can be very … _persuasive_."

"I didn't just make them sing, I made them _scream_," Akeno-san said cheerfully.

"After that, it was just a case of obliterating all your followers. I'll admit I was surprised to discover that the other Fallen Angels were tricked into helping you." She glanced at the three in question. There was no trust there, but there _was _understanding. "Punishing you based on something you were tricked into would leave a bad taste in my mouth, even if you're Fallen Angels. I'll offer any help that I can in proving these events to your superiors."

"Thank you, Gremory-san," said the blue-haired one with the gigantic knockers, bowing.

"Onto the next thing," Buchou said, smiling. She moved over to Ise-nii and held the hand on which his Sacred Gear rested. "I figured out how he was able to beat a Fallen Angel so early on. This Sacred Gear isn't the ordinary Twice Critical you said it was, Fallen Angel Dohnaseek. It is the Boosted Gear, a Sacred Gear said to be among the rarest of the rare. The Red Dragon mark that's appeared on the gauntlet proves it. You've heard of it, haven't you?"

Dohnaseek looked between her and Ise-nii with an utterly dumbfounded look on his face … then promptly burst into hysterical laughter. "Are you actually shitting me!?" he asked as he cackled. "Y-You mean to tell me that I had a fucking _Longinus _within my grasp this entire time and I settled for this piece of shit _healing _power?" He laughed louder, like it was the funniest thing in the world to him. "Oh, that is fucking _priceless_!"

"Yes, you really missed a trick," said Buchou, clearly taking pleasure in his hysterics. "If it works as the legends tell, the Boosted Gear can double its user's power every ten seconds. He can start from the lowest of the low, but with enough boosts in power stand equal with High Class Devils and leaders of Heaven and the Grigori. With enough time, he could even kill God."

… _Well holy shit, _I thought as I let that sink in. God in the Bible was always presented as this divine, infallible being, almost more of a concept than an actual person. The fact that he was _killable _… It _almost _made me feel better about a few things, knowing that he wasn't quite as omnipotent as the mythology would imply, meaning he didn't have quite as infinite a reach as those zealots in the church liked to think. Any crack I could take at the Christians at this point was more than fine on me.

But all that couldn't change one thing.

"Buchou …" I spoke for the first time in the conversation, my voice barely coming out as a mutter. "… I failed … I got so heated over this … I was so disrespectful of you … and I still failed … I couldn't save Asia …"

Buchou moved to come over to me, presumably to offer comfort, but Koneko-chan beat her to it, leaning down next to where I was kneeling near Asia and hugging me softly. I melted into it. The warmth of affection began to flow through my body despite everything that had happened up to this point.

"You don't have to cry," Buchou said as Koneko-chan hugged me. "Seeing you now, there's no one who'll blame you. You just aren't experienced as a Devil yet, even with those strange powers of yours. Become strong. I'll be working you hard from now on. Both of you. Ise and Shin, the Hyoudou brothers, my Pawn and my Rook."

"Yes," Ise-nii said, nodding.

I just nodded. I was too emotionally exhausted.

"Now then," Buchou said, turning back to Dohnaseek. "I'll finish up here. I will have you disappear, Fallen Angel, and I'll take that stolen Sacred Gear back while I'm at it."

That was the first thing to really get a panicked rise out of him. "You can't!" he protested. "This healing power is for my master! It's for the good of my whole group!"

"As a Devil, I admire one's will to please their master," Buchou admitted but without a hint of mercy in her tone. "But you are too filthy a creature to allow to leave."

She aimed her hand at him.

"Me, here," came an unfortunately familiar voice. "Wow!" Freed exclaimed. "My superior is in serious danger! What ever shall we do!?"

"Save me!" Dohnaseek demanded. "If you save me, Freed, you'll be greatly rewarded!"

"I don't swing that way," Freed said casually. "And you lost my boner the second those three broke outta the birdcage. So I'mma just take off. That cool with you?"

"You lousy piece of shit! Aren't you a Stray Exorcist!? I'm a Fallen Angel, you should—!"

Freed yawned. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Stray Exorcists serve Fallen Angels and all that shit. But I'm not really into the idea of working for someone who loses to trashy Devils. Just about the only thing you were good for was keeping those three hotties lined up for me, but you went and cut me off before I could even _get _to the pussy buffet, man! So you can just go ahead and die, okay, boss? I'd say have a nice afterlife, buuuut … Fallen Angels who were abandoned by God go into nothingness, don't they? Maybe you'll get something outta that? Though I guess that isn't possible … meh, whatever."

I thought he was going to get the hell out of here when he was finished talking to Dohnaseek, but I felt chills running down my spine as his eyes drifted over to me and a wide smile took over his face.

"Shin-kun, Shin-kun," he said. "Your bro has a decent power, but all that shit you were doing with your blood and bone … hardcore, man, _hardcore_. You are _so _worth killing! You are right up there in my top five Devils I want to kill. So be prepared, okay? Next time we meet, we'll be having a romantic fight to the death!" The killing intent rolled off of him as he stared at me. "See ya, then! Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

Just as suddenly as he appeared, he vanished.

Buchou didn't waste any time getting back to business. "Now, Fallen Angel Dohnaseek, you die," she said. "Any last words?"

Dohnaseek was silent for just long enough that I thought he was going to go out without saying anything, but just as Buchou gathered her destructive power in her hand, ready to blast him, he uttered three words, and if we knew nothing else, we knew the name of his master.

"All hail Jongruk."

And then he was gone, blasted into nothing by my own master.

All that was left was a single black feather.

And a floating green light.

Asia's Sacred Gear.

Buchou reached out a hand and grabbed Asia's Sacred Gear out of the air. "Now, let's return this to Asia Argento," she said.

I couldn't help the hope that flared in me. _Don't do that, _I thought to myself. "B-But she's dead …" I said.

"Shin, what do you think this is?" she asked, taking out a chess piece. It was a Bishop. It was the colour of blood.

"… It's an Evil Piece …" I said in realisation. That small flare of hope became a wildfire within me. "You're gonna bring her back, make her one of us."

"As my Bishop," Buchou confirmed. "I already have another Bishop, so this is my last one. I only get two. Each Peerage can have as many as fifteen servants, that's eight Pawns, two Knights, two Bishops, two Rooks, and one Queen." She placed the Bishop chess piece on Asia's non-breathing chest. "The Bishop's role is to support the other members of the team, so her Sacred Gear should work perfectly for that."

A crimson aura surrounded Buchou's body, as well as Asia's.

"In the name of Rias Gremory, you, Asia Argento, are to be resurrected as my Devil servant. My Bishop, rise and be delighted with your new life!"

The Bishop chess piece glowed and lowered into Asia's body. Knowing this had at one point happened to me made it feel kind of weird, and the mental image of this happening with my bleeding dead body popped into my head. At the same time, Asia's Sacred Gear was returned to her body, as well. Buchou stopped the flow of demonic power once both the chess piece and the Sacred Gear were in Asia's body.

…

…

…

_Come on! _I urged mentally, feeling all the sadness and grief float away from me. _Come on, Asia … come on …_

…

…

…

Asia Argento opened her eyes.

"Huh?" she said as she awakened.

"Asia!" I cried happily. Without even thinking about it, I dove forward and pulled her into a hug. "You're alive, Asia! I … I can't believe you're alive!"

"Shin-san?" Asia questioned. "What … what happened?"

"I resurrected her because I wanted her power to heal Devils," said Buchou, likely trying to explain this away as one of those acts of greed she was so adamant about Devils committing by nature. "Shin, from now on, you'll protect her. You'll be her senior Devil, after all. But for the time being, she'll be coming with me. I left you two to your own devices a while after I reincarnated you, which turned out to be a mistake. I'll take proper care this time." She looked at the Fallen Angels. "You three, come with us. Akeno will be there, too. There are some things we need to discuss."

The three Fallen Angels bowed their heads in agreement.

"You need to go with them for now, Asia," I said, still hugging her tightly. Despite my own words, I didn't want to let her go. It had been a long night. "We'll see each other again soon, okay? It's just that Buchou can explain all this to you way better than I can. We'll hang out later."

She looked unsure. "O-Okay," she said. "I trust you, Shin-san. I'll see you soon." She stood up. I helped her, unsure of whether she'd be able to stand on her own, but she did. She left with Buchou, Akeno-san, and the three Fallen Angels.

"Hell of a night, huh, little bro?" Ise-nii said as we started to walk out of the church.

"Yeah, you can say that again," I said, stretching. "What the hell was with my body ripping itself apart and ripping other shit to shreds? It's never done that before."

"We don't know," said Kiba-kun. "But I assure you, Buchou will be looking into it. I'll see you guys in school tomorrow."

We traded goodbyes, and Ise-nii and I were about to head home when I was stopped.

"Wait," said Koneko-chan. I stopped and turned to her. She surprised me by pulling me into an incredibly close hug. "I heard you crying from the basement. It didn't sound right. Shin-kun shouldn't cry." Then she released me and started walking away.

I blinked after her, red rising to my cheeks. I walked after Ise-nii with a dopey grin on my face.

* * *

The following morning, we were all told by Buchou to be at the clubroom early.

I was walking with Koneko-chan, feeling a lot more chipper than I had in the last few days. Thinking back on the night before, I didn't know when exactly my body stopped doing all that weird shit, but I was glad it had – could you imagine walking into school with blood jutting out of my back and my hair moving? Screw the memory wipes, I'd have had to go into fucking hiding!

"Ah, normalcy, who I've missed you," I said contentedly as we walked.

"You're not normal, though," Koneko-chan pointed out.

"Which _is _normal for _me_, so my point still stands," I said without missing a beat. "Not a care in the world, I can go back to admiring just how adorable you are all through the day." Seeing her cheeks go slightly pink, I grinned and added a little fuel to the fire. "And I'm really looking forward to our date, Koneko-chan."

The pink in her cheeks darkened to red. "… Me, too …" she said quietly.

It was a good day, I could feel it.

I did a little knock on the clubroom door before going in. "'Sup, homies?" I said. "Remind me to never say those two words in succession ever again." Paying attention to what was going on in the room, I saw it was only Ise-nii and Buchou in there at the moment, and Buchou had just kissed Ise-nii on the forehead. "Hey, some lip contact from something other than the hand you practice on! Good job, Ise-nii!"

"Up yours," Ise-nii said, sitting up from where he'd been laying on Buchou's lap.

"So, how's everybody doing?" I asked, sitting down. Koneko-chan sat down afterwards, but much to my surprise, she didn't take her usual spot on the sofa. Rather, she sat down on my lap. "Koneko-chan?"

"I'm asserting dominance," she said. "The new girl needs to know I'm ahead of her."

"Huh?"

"Sh-Shin-san …?" The voice came from the door. It was Asia. She must have been in one of the other rooms up until now, or else I would have at least heard her walking behind us. She was trying to smile but it wasn't quite working.

"Asia?" I said, starting to smile at her. Meanwhile, I was thinking, _Could it be …? I know I've seen a situation like this before …_

"I-It has to be …" she muttered to herself. "K-Koneko-san is really cute, so of course Shin-san would also like her … No, no, I can't think like that! Oh Lord, please forgive my sinful heart!" She gave a small yell and held her hands up to her head, pained. "I have a headache …"

"Of course," said Buchou. "If a Devil tries to pray to God, it's only natural they'll receive damage."

Asia looked troubled. "Oh, that's right, I'm a Devil now … I can't face God any more …" I wanted to comfort her, but all I could think to say was that God wasn't worthy of her praise, having abandoned her the way he did … but I knew it would just upset her further to hear me say that, so I kept it to myself.

"Do you regret it?" Buchou asked her.

Asia shook her head. "No, not at all. No matter what situation I'm in, I'm happy as long as I'm with Shin-san."

I felt my face go beat red when she said that. For a straight guy, hearing a girl say that about me … it really pleased some part of me, deep down.

"I see," said Buchou. "Then that's okay. From today you will also be my servant, and I will make you work along with Shin."

"Yes!" said Asia. "I'll do my best!"

I still wanted to cheer her up even though she seemed to be in a better mood. I recalled what she said about me finding Koneko-chan cute, so I looked at what she was wearing, which was different from the nun's habit I'd seen her in before today. She was wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform, only instead of the shoulder cape worn by most of the girls in school, she was wearing a black sweater-vest over it. I don't know how intentional it was in Buchou's part, but the look gave her a more innocent version of the typical "sexy schoolgirl" vibe. I approved.

"You know, you're looking really cute in your new uniform, Asia," I said. I felt Koneko-chan tense against me a bit, so I wrapped an arm around her in a half-hug. I had to make sure my best girl felt loved, after all. "I like it."

Asia's face went red. A lot of that was happening this morning. "Th-Thank you," she said shyly. It was adorable.

"I decided to have Asia attend our school," Buchou explained. "Technically, she should be a second year, but given her relationship with you, Shin, as well as her lack of education outside the church, she'll be a first year student in class with you and Koneko. She's starting today, so make sure you look after her."

I gave her a mock salute. "Aye aye, Buchou," I said.

"I'll be in your care, Shin-san," Asia said, bowing politely.

"And I'll make sure you enjoy every single second of it," I promised. "Trust me, you'll be swimming in new friends in no time!"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Just then, Kiba-kun and Akeno-san came in through the door.

"Good morning, Buchou, Koneko-chan, Shin-kun, Ise-kun, Asia-san," said Kiba-kun.

"How are you all doing?" Akeno-san asked. She saw the position I was in, with Koneko-chan on my lap and now Asia-san, who had just sat down beside me, hugging onto my spare arm. "Someone looks like he's enjoying himself."

"It isn't the most unpleasant situation I've ever found myself in," I admitted. Then it hit me. _Oh my God … I know where I've seen this before! Holy shit, I've got a harem growing! _The thought excited me and made me nervous all at once. On one hand … I think just about every hormonal teenage boy of the heterosexual persuasion has dreamed about being popular with the ladies, but on the other … having a harem was Ise-nii's dream, and I didn't want to take that away from him. _Still, who's to say we can't _both _have one …? _I thought, more in an attempt to make it seem less bleak than anything else.

"Since everyone is here," Buchou started, "shall we start the party?" She clicked her fingers and a large cake appeared on the table in front of us. "I figured it'd be good to gather in the mornings sometimes to do stuff like this. S-Since we got new members, I m-made a cake, so let's eat it together." She actually started to sound shy when she was talking about making the cake. It was pretty cute. I could tell Ise-nii thought so, too. He was crushing on her pretty hard.

Koneko-chan got two plates of the cake, and so did Asia. At first, I couldn't tell why, but then Koneko-chan turned around with a piece on a fork. "Open up," she said.

"N-No!" Asia protested. "I wanted to feed Shin-san!"

"You can after me."

Asia pouted.

_This … is the good life, _I decided, opening my mouth to have the sugary goodness fed to me.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

Elsewhere …

A group of individuals gathered in a room. They were watching what was unfolding in the Occult Research Club's clubroom on some sort of screen.

"Dohnaseek's failure wasn't so big a loss, after all," said one.

"Agreed," said another. "The crazy bastard's hunt for Twilight Healing may have done us some good in the long run, but I think the results gave us something better."

"I still say we should have killed him ourselves," said a third. "If he'd done the job on Issei Hyoudou himself, that bitch he tricked wouldn't have stabbed Shintaro Hyoudou. His insistence on manipulating others to carry out his plan put Lord Jongruk's best hope needlessly at risk!"

"But look at the results!" the second spoke again. "Shintaro Hyoudou having the powers of a Devil may actually work to our advantage!"

"It certainly seems to have jump-started the process," said a fourth. "His powers over his own body have awakened. So far, he has achieved power over his bones, his blood, his flesh, and his hair. It shouldn't be long now until we're ready to begin."

"Agreed," said a fifth. "Shintaro Hyoudou should be kept under observation until such a time as he is strong enough for us to perform the ritual. All hail Jongruk."

"All hail Jongruk," everyone present repeated.

Then they all dispersed.

* * *

**Wait, what!? Kokabiel wasn't the puppet master behind the opening arc!? What is this sorcery!? Kidding aside, I don't mind that most people who make Dohnaseek the main villain of the first arc, or go the whole manipulated Fallen Angels angle, make Kokabiel behind it. It ties him into the overall plot more and gives him more importance, I get it. That being said, I've thought out this story quite a bit, and while I will say that Kokabiel _might _know what's going on, he isn't the mastermind behind this. Rather, the mysterious "Jongruk" Dohnaseek mentioned is. Who is he? Heheheh, well, you'll have to wait and see, won't you? ;)**

**I know there wasn't very much interaction with the Fallen Angel girls, but don't worry, they'll be back. I promise.**

**Still no new harem members introduced at the current time. Just to keep things juicy, I will tell you that there are _two _characters who are going to be genderbent, and Issei and Shintaro both get one of them. Just to keep you guessing~**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima, Kalawarner, Asia Argento,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare, Mittelt,

**Now, before we go, the reviews!**

**kuriboh1233: **I quite agree, there can never be too many _Hellsing Ultimate Abridged _references. Not to worry, I won't go too _Naruto _on you, haha. As you can see from this chapter, Shintaro's abilities aren't just over bone.

**weslyschraepen: **Shintaro does not have a Sacred Gear.

**Clarent excalibur: **Oh, don't worry, there'll be plenty of references where those came from.

**Derek 23: **Will do, good sir.

**Vizard Masky: **Thank you. Don't worry, despite being a Rook, he's not exactly going to be lacking in magical talent, it's just that most of what he does with magic and demonic power will be of the up close and personal variety, mainly focusing on defence and powerful offence. His abilities, as mentioned in this chapter, are over his own flesh, blood, and bones, so a bit more than Kimimaro. No, while Kokabiel might have some inkling as to what's going on – though I won't spoil too much, lol – he is _not _behind this like he is in most other fics, rather the mysterious "Jongruk" is. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

**MentalForge: **Don't worry, the bone swords and other powers won't be unexplained, it's just part of the mystery of the plot and will be explained when the characters discover it in-story. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.

**Reptil: **As shown with this chapter, it's his whole body.

**Jacksonion Democracy: **He may well be an ass man.

**MR2: **I hope what I've shown of his powers didn't disappoint.

**Gerden360: **Because the angsty "I hate being a Devil servant!" storyline has been done to absolute death at this point. It's not a bad plotline by any means, but I feel it's been so overused that it's become cliché so I'm trying to avoid it.

**Guest: **He could well be.

**Guest: **Not quite, but there's some inspiration there, certainly.

**That's all from me, folks! See you next time!**


	6. So, This Passes for Normal Now?

**VOLUME 2: SHINTARO HYOUDOU VS. THE PHENEX'S HAREM**

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

So, This Passes for Normal Now?

The day after Asia was inducted into the class, I decided it was high time to get back to my usual skulduggery.

We were all sitting in class, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Most people had noticed something missing from the classroom, though most didn't think anything of it. I could hear them muttering in curiosity, but the conversation topics drifted away pretty quickly. I could feel Koneko-chan's eyes flicking to me now and then. She knew I'd done something. Her desk was closer to mine than it used to be, and Asia had moved hers closer on the first day, too. I enjoyed the jealous looks I was getting from the other guys in the room.

The door opened.

The teacher entered.

Confused silence followed.

"Hyoudou," he said tersely.

"Yes?" I asked innocently.

"Where is my desk?"

"Don't know, sensei. Not in here, I can say that for definite. Weird."

He groaned and held his head in his hands. "Two weeks of peace come crashing to an abrupt halt …" he muttered, though loud enough that we heard it. He fixed me with a stern stare. "Where did you put it?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about, sensei," I said, like a liar.

"This is _not _funny, Hyoudou."

"Well, _you're _the one who lost an entire desk, I don't know what you're going off on _me _for."

"I didn't _lose _my desk." He started pacing back and forth at the front of the room.

"Where was the last place you saw it?" Asia asked in an attempt to be helpful. I felt just a little bad for inadvertently having her make this funnier, but only a little.

He looked like he was about to snap, but Asia's overall aura of niceness had just as significant an effect on him as it did on everybody else, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. He looked me dead in the eyes again. "Tell me where my desk is right now, or I'll grab the T.V. out of the closet and make the entire class watch the original cut of the _Sonic the Hedgehog _movie."

"Where did you even _get _that?"

"I _mean _it, Hyoudou."

"…"

"Okay, Hyoudou, it's your fault the entire class needs to be punished." He walked to the closet, which was on the other side of the room to the door he came through.

"Colder," I said.

He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at me. He took a single step back towards the centre-front of the room.

"Warmer," I said.

He took a couple more steps, getting closer to the classroom door.

"Warmer." I stood up and walked around my desk, so I could see him as he left the classroom, considered his options, and went left. "Colder." He walked past the door and to the right. "Warmer." I walked out of the classroom, initially just poking my head around the corner to check his progress. "Ooh, a little warmer."

He looked back at me with a glare that could have melted steel, but I just smiled at him.

"Even warmer," I said once he started walking again. "Hot, you're getting hot. Warmer. _Colder_. You're getting colder!" I said as he passed by a door.

He paused and walked back.

"Warmer," I assured him.

He looked at the door he was standing by in the hallway, then turned to look at me. By this point, the entire class was stood behind me, just watching this unfold. He shook his head at me and opened the door to the male staff bathroom and found there was just enough space to open the door, but the desk was blocking off just about every other point in the room. He looked at the surprisingly working computer and the ground, now noticing that the wires for everything were leading out of the bathroom and were plugged in in the hallway.

"Scalding hot, sensei," I said.

"Yeah, no shi—"

Our teacher was saved from the jokes that would originate if he swore in front of his students when the only person in the school scarier than the teachers happened to walk down the hallway and upon our scene: the student council president.

_Shit, _I thought.

Souna Shitori was in the third year, just like Buchou and Akeno-san, and she carried an air of authority unmatched by any other student in Kuoh Academy. She was a bespectacled girl with a very slim figure, not as buxom as the two third-years mentioned but still pretty sexy, black hair styled in a bob cut, and violet eyes. She wore her uniform as perfect as it could be worn. I knew from my run-ins with her before this that she was not a woman to be trifled with. Fantasised about on a lonely night when my imagination is running wild with a sub-dom scenario in which I am the sub? Most definitely, but _not _trifled with.

"Hyoudou," she said when she saw what was going on. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Shitori-senpai," I said back. "I feel like we both already know the answer to that."

"The fact that we're not too far away from the start of the year and I'm already getting used to hearing your name pop up is not a good sign for you."

"On the contrary, that sort of notoriety is great for business."

She breathed out through her nose. "It's pointless arguing with you. _Not unlike someone else I know_," she added under her breath. I don't think I was supposed to hear it. "I know you first years are still relatively new, but really, how do you expect to progress if you keep up this kind of juvenile behaviour? Failing academically won't be very funny for you in the long run."

"Um, actually …" our teacher said from the seat he'd squeezed into at his desk. It wasn't the toilet seat – I had enough decency to leave him with _some _dignity. "Hyoudou is … problematic, to put it politely, but in the few tests we've done so far he's come out on top of every single one."

I didn't realise it was possible to stun Shitori-senpai into silence until the teacher finished that sentence, but it happened. She always seemed like the type to have a well-educated answer to everything, so seeing her with no response like that was something of a novelty. I also couldn't help but feel a swell of pride. Despite how insane I was driving him so early on in the year, my teacher couldn't think of anything bad to say about my academic achievements.

"… I see," Shitori-senpai said, at last, giving me a look. It was different from the looks she usually gave me, but only subtly. "That is unexpected. No offence."

I shrugged. "Just because I like to have a laugh and keep everyone in high spirits doesn't mean I'm stupid," I said. "What's the problem with having fun if I can?"

"… I'll leave you to it, then." Her eyes sharpened at all of us. "Get back to class."

We all clamoured to comply.

As we got into the classroom, I noticed that the teacher had found what else I'd done for him. His face was on the interactive whiteboard at the front of the class, being sent to us through the webcam I'd set up on his computer. Another webcam sat in front of the interactive whiteboard, sending him an image of us as well as allowing him to hear us. I had put a lot of thought into a prank that would still let us to get on with our school work.

"So, sensei, what are we doing today?" I asked grinning.

"Just give me a second …" said the teacher, struggling to rifle through the drawers of his desk.

I was back on form.

And it felt fantastic.

* * *

_Earlier in the year …_

"_You'll do fine, little bro," Ise-nii assured me as he walked me to Kuoh Academy for the first time, for my first day of high school. "It's just like middle school, except you're a year older. Just keep being funny like you did before and you'll be popular in no time. And if that smile slips, just think of the oppai. That's what I do!"_

"Of course it is_," I muttered. As we approached the school, the building loomed menacingly over me. "I'm sure I'll be fine," I said louder, with confidence I didn't have._

_In truth, I was terrified. Since he had left middle school himself, Ise-nii's taste for women had grown to consume most of his personality. _Damn that dirty old bastard_, I thought bitterly, thinking of the old shithead that encouraged Ise-nii's behaviour to begin with. Anyone with that sort of perverted attitude should have been on a watch list _long _before he was allowed to interact with children. As it stood, however, Ise-nii's perversions had taken over quite a lot, which worried me since that sort of behaviour would no doubt build him a reputation._

_A reputation that I, being his younger brother, would have to try my damnedest to crawl the hell out of as soon as possible._

_People are shit like that. I would be guilty until proven innocent; I was sure of it._

"_Hey, where you going, Shin?" Ise-nii asked as I continued walking even after he'd stopped to talk to his friends._

"_I have to get a … point across to my sensei," I explained with my trademark grin, though it was somewhat shakier than usual. I kept on walking, checking the note I had in my pocket to tell me which classroom was mine._

_I entered the classroom and immediately made a beeline for the sensei's desk. I reached into the pocket of my blazer and picked out several drawing pins, placing them on the sensei's chair, face-up, so that the sensei would sit on them when they arrived, assuming they didn't look, which most people didn't, I'd found. It was terrific how careless adhering to routine made people._

"_You shouldn't do that," said a flat female voice, startling me._

_I swung around to see a girl I hadn't noticed upon entering the room. Her snow-white hair dazzled my eyes, and she was pretty cute. "Why not?" I asked. "I'm just politely establishing what our sensei will be dealing with all year, that's all."_

"_If you last all year, you mean."_

"_Ooh." I mimed being shot. "Shots fired! You've got quite the sharp sense of wit, haven't you?"_

"_If by that you mean common sense and intolerance for idiots, then yes."_

_The grin on my face grew far more genuine. "I like you." I moved and took the seat next to her. I bowed my head. "Hi, my name's—"_

_RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!_

_Almost as soon as the bell rang, other students began pouring into the classroom. They must have been waiting just in the corridor outside. I flopped in my chair, disappointed I didn't get to complete my introduction and learn this girl's name in conversation rather than in roll call, which would happen once everyone was seated._

_The sensei came in not long after and stood in the centre of the front of the room. "All rise," he said, and we did. "Bow." We did. "Be seated." We sat._

_Then he went and, just as I predicted, sat down at his desk without looking._

"_OW_!"_ he exclaimed as he shot up from his chair. He looked down, saw the drawing pins, and glared around the classroom as he brushed them from his seat. "Which of you is responsible for this?" Nobody answered. "Well?"_

_I held my laughter in as long as I could, but the sight of him picking out some drawing pins that had gotten stuck in his behind broke me down. I started cackling under my breath, which he immediately noticed._

"_You!" he said, pointing down at me. "Stand up." I did. "What's your name, boy?"_

"_Hyoudou, sensei," I said. "Shintaro Hyoudou."_

_Just as I feared, the whispers started. These were all first-years like me, so they didn't know my brother themselves, but they had been warned. _"My sister warned me about a Hyoudou," _one girl whispered to another, not subtle in the least. _"She says he's some sort of lecherous beast."

"But it can't be _this _Hyoudou, can it?" _her friend whispered back. _"He's in our year."

_I felt myself turning scarlet from embarrassment, something which the sensei smiled at. He clearly felt the rumour mill was punishing me enough. "Sit back down, and don't do anything like this again."_

"_Of course not, sensei," I lied through my teeth._

"_Told you," said the girl as I sat down._

"_That you did," I responded, a bit quieter than before since I hadn't yet recovered from my embarrassment. "But you can't say it wasn't funny."_

"_It wasn't funny."_

"_Ouch." I once again mimed being shot. "So what _do _you find funny?"_

"_Not that."_

_Once again, I started grinning. "Well, then I'll just have to see if I can figure it out."_

"_Please don't."_

"_Too late for that, Snow White-chan."_

_She sighed. "Don't call me that. My name is Koneko Toujou."_

"_Okay, then, Toujou-chan. Mark my words, by the end of the year, I _guarantee _I'll get a laugh out of you."_

"_Good look with that." She turned away from me dismissively._

_As the class got started, I couldn't help occasionally glancing at her from the corner of my eye. I promised myself at that moment that I _would _make her laugh by the end of my first year._

* * *

I was riding that buzz the whole way through the school day. Koneko-chan kept scolding me, though it was a lot lighter than it used to be. Asia, bless her innocent soul, didn't seem to understand what I had done. I didn't have every period of the day with my homeroom teacher, but I heard later on that he spent the whole school day teaching out of that bathroom. Now _that's _what I call a successful bit of hi-jinx.

Walking to the clubroom with a girl on each arm was the icing on the cake of a beautiful day.

"Hello, you three," Akeno-san greeted us as we entered the room. She and Kiba-kun were both in there, but there was no sign of Ise-nii or Buchou. "You look like you're enjoying yourself," Akeno-san commented on the look on my face.

"What's not to enjoy?" I asked. "I'm back in my rhythm, and I'm walking around school like a movie star. Life is good."

"Then you should be in the mood for a contract," she said. "There's one waiting, and you seem jovial right now, so you might get a good reaction from the client."

"Right you are, my Queen," I said, mock bowing as Asia and Koneko-chan released my arms. Calling Akeno-san "my Queen" reminded me that Buchou was my King, and having Buchou as King and Akeno-san as Queen … that word association put quite the yuri fantasy in my head. As I quickly stepped into the magic circle, I tried to get my throbbing erection under control before it teleported me to the client.

As the circle began to glow, I remembered something.

"Hey, Koneko-chan!" I called before the light could swallow me up. "Let's go on that date tonight, okay?"

I teleported before I could hear her response.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

* * *

_A week into her first year of high school, Koneko was wondering why she chose to hang out with Hyoudou willingly._

"_A blind man walked into a bar," he started with another of his dumb jokes. "Ouch."_

"_Hilarious," she said with no sincerity at all._

"_I know it is," he said insufferably._

_Her mind wandered back to that first day. She had gone to class early, wanting to avoid the crowd that would inevitably rush in upon the opening bell. When Shintaro Hyoudou had entered, she had at first assumed he had a similar idea, but then he started putting those drawing pins on the sensei's chair, and she knew immediately that this was the kind of guy who considered himself the class clown. But then she had scolded him, and she'd seen badly-hidden nervousness all over his face._

_That had made sense once the class started whispering after he revealed his name. By now, she knew that he _was _the clownish type, but there was still some part of him that was trying desperately to escape his brother's reputation. She knew how that felt, to a more extreme degree than he could understand, but it was that sentiment that brought her back to spending time with him every single lunchtime._

_Which she sometimes regretted. At least he wasn't doing _puns _today._

_Not many, anyway._

"_What's the opposite of opposite?" he asked. She blanched. "Consider yourself bamboozled!"_

_Odd though it was, that stupid joke sparked a thought in her head. "Why are you doing this?" she asked._

"_Doing what?" he asked, with a tilt of the head._

"_Trying so hard to make me laugh," she clarified. "You've been trying all week … When will it stop?"_

"_Never."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because you look like you have a nice smile," he said, causing her to suck in a breath as a slight pink came to her cheeks. Even though what he was saying should have been embarrassing, there was no red on his face, just complete sincerity. "When I first came into the classroom, you were sitting on your own. Your friends are all in that club of yours, right? In different years?" She nodded. "You looked lonely sitting there, and even though everyone else says you look cool and emotionless, I know melancholy when I see it. Happy isn't something you are a lot, is it?"_

"_Not everyone is like you, Hyoudou," she said._

"_True. And I'm not happy all the time, either, but I _try _to be. And I try to make other people happy, too." Now he went a bit red, knowing how this next part was going to sound. "I want to make _you _happy, Toujou-chan. You deserve to smile, too."_

"…"

_She was unprepared for that to be his answer. Her face went red, much like his. "… Koneko," she said after a moment. He looked confused. "You can call me Koneko."_

_What appeared on his face then was not a grin, but a _smile_. "Okay, Koneko-chan," he said softly. "You can call me Shin."_

"… _Shin-kun, then."_

* * *

**First Person POV – Shintaro Hyoudou**

* * *

"Gremory Devils' Dildo Delivery!" I announced as I arrived at the client's house. "Any time, any place, any hole! How may I help you this fine afternoon?"

The guy who summoned me was an average-looking college student who looked like acne hadn't been kind to him through puberty, but I'm above mocking people over their appearance, thank you very much. He was gawping at me with an expression that told me this man was probably just fucking around and hadn't expected the flier to do anything. Still, that was no reason not to have some fun with him.

"Going by how wide it's open, I'm guessing the hole will be the mouth," I said, keeping up with my opening line. "I'm guessing you'll be after a more flexible model so it can go down the throat easier?"

"W-W-Wait!" he said, getting to his feet in a hurry. "H-Hold on a sec, I d-don't want any of your d-d-dildos!"

"That's fine. I don't have any."

"…"

"… Is this an amazed silence, or are you just disappointed I don't have the merchandise?"

"Fuck you, asshole."

"No, no, no, that's not how it works. I'm just the delivery boy. They'd be for fucking _your _asshole."

"Oh, God, just _stop_!" he pleaded with me.

I decided to take pity on him. "Okay, in all seriousness, hi. I'm a Devil of the Gremory household. That flier wouldn't have worked unless there was some real desire behind it, no matter whether you thought it was the real thing or not. So, good sir, what can I do for you this evening? I warn you that if it's anything kinky, you'll have to provide the protection."

"Yeah, do you do assassinations?" he asked. "'Cause I'm starting to want to put a hit on _myself_."

"Now, now, there's no need for that. Though this is a new record. I've been told my jokes are painful, but I don't think they've ever driven anyone to _suicide _before. Look," I leaned up against the wall, "what did you think when you summoned me? There has to have been _something_. Come on, man, my boss will ride my ass if I don't get a contract. Hopefully not in the literal sense, or else Ise-nii might get a bit jealous."

"I, uh, I just thought that I wanted to see if it was real …"

"Oh. Well, then. I guess my job's done. If you'll just give me a sec to get the bill …"

"N-No! Wait!" My client stood up rapidly as I moved to check the device on my wrist, hoping for an easy payday this evening. I looked up at him, a bit disappointed. It looked like I might have to do something after all. "I, I have questions! If you want a contract, then make it answering me! Please!"

I sighed, ready to turn him down outright to prevent too much knowledge of the supernatural from getting into human hands – at least, to avoid everything _I _knew from getting into human hands. I didn't know how much I knew in comparison to what there was, so I didn't think it worth the risk. Then I got an idea. A _brilliant_ idea. The grin grew across my face even as I answered him. "All right, then. A little question and answer session is what you want, is it? Okay. That will be our contract."

"Awesome!" the guy said enthusiastically. "Okay, I'll just, uh, just get some stuff. Wait here a sec!" With that, he ran out of the room. I could hear him rummaging through some stuff a few rooms over. After a couple of minutes, he came back in with a laptop. He opened it up. YouTube was already open, and there was a video already up. "Just before we get onto my questions, I've got this thing here. I wanna know if this video is real or not."

I took a closer look at the screen. The video was titled "Demons Return Missing Child! Totally 100% Real!" The title alone made me doubt the validity of what I was about to see, but this seemed like it would be good to mess with him with. "Boot it up," I invited.

He clicked play.

The video was a news report. Everything about even the first frame made me sure it was fake. The headline was "WOMAN SUCKS AT DRAWING OWN KID" and the woman in question was holding a terrible drawing of what I could only assume was her child. It was just a round head with a cap, two dots for eyes, and what I thought were meant to be buck teeth, with the words "missing boy" written on it. My hype for messing with the client went down. If he was stupid enough that he had to ask to know this was fake, this was going to take absolutely no effort on my part.

"Please!" the woman cried. The reporter stood next to her impartially. "If anyone has seen my little Eddie, please contact us and—" She released a little shout of surprise as a bag just the same size and shape as a child fell from somewhere above her and into her arms. The camera panned upwards. There was what appeared to be a hole in the sky, and in that hole were three creatures. They all had red skin and horns.

_Well … _I thought curiously. _They look pretty real even if the rest of this is shittily made._

"You're welcome!" one of the creatures chirped before the rip in the sky closed up of its own accord.

"So?" my client asked. "What do you think?"

"That's real," I lied skilfully. "Once the kid's soul's gone, there's no use for the body, so why keep it? That lot was pretty nice about it, too. Most Devils would've just fed him to the Hellhounds."

That seemed to make him a bit uncomfortable. "This … _this _isn't gonna cost me my soul, is it?"

I scoffed. "C'mon, man, why would we do that to a client? It's people like you that act as our source of income. Or did you think we have unlimited money just 'cause we come from Hell?"

"R-Right, that makes sense, I guess …" He cleared his throat and opened up Microsoft Word on his laptop. "Okay, then, question time."

"Hit me, big man."

"What's Hell like?"

"Just imagine the E.A. marketing department."

He typed that out. "Okay, then. How about …?"

This continued. I had a lot of fun.

* * *

_My first time being scolded by Shitori-senpai in the student council room was intense. This was a while before I got used to being under that glare of hers, and it was far more intimidating than any of the senseis in school had managed so far. It was kind of impressive, to be honest._

_As I left, my head lowered and my arms were shaking, trying to recover from the verbal lashing I'd just gotten, I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Koneko-chan. "Hey," I said, trying and failing to keep the shake out of my voice._

"_You'll get used to her, Shin-kun," she said. "Knowing you, you'll be in and out of there so many times a month they'll have to get you your own desk."_

"Whatever_ happened to good old-fashioned detentions?" I asked. "I didn't think the students would be in charge of discipline. What, does she have the headmaster's balls in a vice or something? And is she always that intensely angry? I get the feeling that if she hated someone enough, she'd write 'fuck you' on a note and send it by carrier pigeon!"_

_Then a noise …_

_A noise so sweet it stopped me in my tracks …_

… _the tiniest of chuckles from Koneko-chan._

"_You're laughing," I said dumbly._

"_I thought you deserved a win today," she said. "It looks like Kaichou gave you PTSD in there."_

"_So it was a pity laugh?" I tutted. "My dearest Koneko-chan, that simply won't do! No matter how sweet a laugh that was, I shall not stop until I've made you laugh for real!"_

"_Then keep on trying, Shin-kun. I'm not going anywhere."_

* * *

"That was fast," Akeno-san commented as I teleported back inside the clubroom. "I didn't take you for the kind of guy who finishes prematurely, Shintaro-kun."

My face went hot. "As much as I always aim to satisfy," I said. Even embarrassed, I couldn't let some dirty humour pass me by, "there's only so long I can take when the contract is basically a Q and A on the supernatural. Don't worry," I added when a look of mild concern crossed her face, "I lied on every single question. Doesn't mean I didn't have any _fun _with it, though." I giggled to myself mischievously. I flopped out on the sofa.

"You left Koneko all flustered when you teleported out, you know," she went on, sitting down on the sofa next to me. I took immediate notice of how close she was sitting. "Telling a girl you're taking her out tonight just a second before you left …" she laughed, "… I'm a little jealous she's found a guy who can keep things so _exciting_."

"I kind of have trouble believing you can be jealous of _anyone_," I admitted. "I mean, you could get any guy you want."

She smiled deviously. "Could I, now?" She nudged closer to me, making my blood pump even harder. "And if that guy is already carrying a torch for my adorable kouhai?" She leaned in close, so close that I could feel the moisture of her breath tickling my ear, and whispered, "_I suppose it wouldn't be too bad of me, would it? After all, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't make sure Koneko's boy toy was ready to rise to the occasion in case things get frisky after your date?" _She rested a hand on my thigh, dangerously close to something that was … well, like she said, _rising_.

"Um …" I muttered, speechless. "I … uh …"

She laughed, removed her hand, and stood up. "But of course I wouldn't do that to Koneko," she said. She looked back and pitched a wink at me. "_Yet_." Then she walked off to do whatever work she was doing when I arrived.

_Good _God_, that woman goes from "Nice to meet you, ma'am," to "Your son calls me 'mommy,' too" in half a second! _I thought, incredibly flustered and now feeling very pent up. _Great, now I've got balls bluer than Papa Smurf …_

The door to the clubroom opened, and Asia came in. I didn't know where she'd been, but she seemed fine, so there was no need to act all concerned about it. She saw me and her face lit up, but then she frowned a little. "Shin-san … why are you all red?" she asked. She came over and sat down next to me, putting her palm against my forehead. "Do you have a fever?"

"I think he just needs to release some tension," Akeno-san said, amused.

… _She drives me crazy in all the right ways … _I thought in sexual frustration.

"Can I help at all?" Asia asked.

"No, no, don't worry," I said. "I'll beat it single-handedly."

Thankfully, only Akeno-san got the joke.

* * *

I wasn't wearing anything fancy. I was wearing the same clothes I wore when we were tailing Ise-nii and Raynare-san on their date. On reflection, the fact that I wore attire I thought was appropriate for a date to that meant I saw it more as an attempt to hang out with Koneko-chan than any real curiosity over my brother's business. I was so nervous before this that I showed _twice_, and I was even wearing some of Tou-san's aftershave.

_That might have been kind of overkill, _I thought. _But I want to be at my best for Koneko-chan._

I stood and stared at the small house Koneko-chan lived in. From what Buchou had told me, everyone had one, just a tiny place to live in since everyone needed their privacy. Taking a deep breath, I went over to the front door and knocked.

I heard her coming to the door a few seconds before it opened. "You smell nice," she said as soon as she stepped out.

"Uh, thanks," I said. _Her sense of smell must be fantastic to have picked up on the aftershave that quickly … then again, she _did _smell blood when we went after that Stray Devil, so it's not exactly anything new. _"You look pretty," I complimented. She, too, was wearing the same thing she had worn when we tailed my brother. I chose to take that as a good sign meaning what my own choice of clothing also meant.

Her cheeks pinked. "Thank you."

I held out my arm for her. "Sh-Shall we, then?"

"… Yes." She came over and linked her arm with mine, and we started walking.

We walked in silence. I was very conscious of her body's closeness to my own as we walked, with her arms wrapped around mine. Our body warmth mixed even through our clothes. I began to have doubts about myself. What I had planned wasn't exactly some big, romantic gesture; it was just something I thought she would enjoy. But … was she expecting more? Would she be disappointed that I didn't have a full day out planned as Ise-nii did on that date we witnessed? I couldn't bear the thought of her disappointment.

The worry plagued my mind the entire time we walked.

However, the silence as we walked was a comfortable one. The worry was still there, but her very presence comforted me in a way. It was that which assured me I was making the right decision. Koneko-chan filled my being with warmth. When she was with me, no matter what else I might have been worried about … I was at peace.

The darkness of the walk would have been spooky if we didn't A) have super strength, or B) have night vision. This was the first time I had just admired how much that night vision lit up the night. By the time we reached the place I was taking Koneko-chan on our date, the lights on the inside of the building almost tricked me into thinking the site was up in flames.

"A twenty-four-hour café?" said Koneko-chan. There was curiosity in her voice, but no disappointment, which I took as a good sign.

"Not just _any twenty-four-hour_ café, my dear Koneko-chan," I said, letting my inner showman out to play. "This place does some of the best damn sweets this side of Kuoh Town!"

"_Shut the fuck up, kid!_" someone shouted from somewhere nearby.

"And as you can see, the people of the surrounding area are charmingly dickish," I added.

Koneko-chan's head perked up. "Sweets?"

_Hook, line, and sinker, _I thought. I'd known about the existence of this place for a while, having come several times during the earlier hours, and I was candid about the quality of their sweet stuff. Bringing Koneko-chan here was something I'd wanted to do for quite a while, but a big part of me wanted to leave it for a special occasion. It was the first place I had thought of when thinking of where to bring her on the date. They say "the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach," so I figured I would try gender-inverting the concept since my best girl had such a sweet tooth. _So far so good, don't you dare fuck it up now, Shin._

Obstacle one of three had been cleared. She liked the place. Obstacle two was the food – I needed to see if she liked it.

The staff on the inside were about as miserable-looking as you would expect night shift staff to be, but they were still in customer service mode, so they were courteous and patient with us as we sat down and ordered a couple of drinks to work through while we looked at the menu. I had tea, and she had hot chocolate.

"I like places like this," I said by way of conversation. "Anywhere that's open at night. Nobody's around, so I figure I don't have to put on a show for anybody. I _love _entertaining, but sometimes even I just need to chill out for a bit. How's the hot chocolate?"

"Nice and sweet," she said, taking another sip. She picked up the little menu. Her expression didn't change, but there was a twinkle in her eyes as she looked it over. "You're right … so many sweets …"

"Order whatever you want," I invited. "It's all on me, and I won't hear a word against the idea. What kind of a date would I be if I didn't pay for your order? I'm quite partial to the triple-chocolate cookies, myself, but the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream is just to die for."

The two of us ordered our food. I went with the brownie and ice cream, as I said. Koneko-chan went for a strawberry sundae.

We fell into a silence of the comfortable sort after that, though Koneko-chan soon broke it. "I'm glad you asked me out," she said. "I'm … I'm happy you still want to spend time with me."

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked.

"… I thought you'd rather spend time with Asia," she admitted. The way her face fell broke my heart. "I was … jealous, when you went to all that trouble for her. You never gave up on her. You were so worried that whole time, you didn't talk to me as much, and I thought …" Her voice became little more than a whisper as the next words passed her lips. "… _I thought you might like her more than me_ …"

"No chance," I denied vehemently. I reached across the table and took her hand in my own, drawing a small, startled gasp from her. "Koneko-chan, if I've said it before I've said it a million times, you're my best girl. That's not going to change. It's been that way since we first met, and it's going to stay that way _forever _if I have anything to say about it." I felt my face heat up. "To be honest, I've liked you … like, _really _liked you … for quite some time now. I just … I didn't see it, not fully until I became a Devil. I thought about you so much that first day, and it made me realise just how much I love being with you." I took a deep breath and asked the question I'd wanted to ask for quite some time. "Would you … could you see me as b-boyfriend material …?"

There it was. It was out there.

_No going back now, Shin, _I thought. The confession had taken an enormous weight off my chest, and even though the silence, however brief, was playing havoc with my mind, I felt some ease just knowing that I had finally admitted my feelings to Koneko-chan out loud and to her face. Whatever happened from here, I had grown a pair and made a move.

_The worst thing she can say is "no," _I tried to encourage myself as I awaited her response. _A rejection would hurt, but let's face it, you're not precisely Romeo, are you? You're more of a Mercutio if you're any of them. Just hope it doesn't hit you too hard—_

"Yes."

"Sorry?" I asked.

"I said 'yes,'" Koneko-chan repeated. "I would … I would like it if you were my boyfriend, Shin-kun. It would make me happy if I were your girlfriend."

I stared for a moment, and then a smile grew on my face. Not a smirk, as was my default expression, but an honest to Satan _smile_. The happiness enveloping my body at that moment was like nothing I had ever felt before. "Th-Then …" I took several deep breaths, trying to get myself together. "W-Well, then I guess I'd better ask this officially. Koneko-chan, would you do me the honour of being my girlfriend?"

Then _she _smiled, and to my immense joy, it was just as real and happy as my own. "Yes, I will," she affirmed.

I gazed into her eyes. My mind was blank save for the joy of the moment. I tenderly stroked the back of her hand with my thumb. We stared at each other like this until our food arrived, at which point we tucked in happily. The food was all the sweeter for the event that had preceded its consumption.

_Though not as sweet as Koneko-chan, _I found myself thinking.

Like a lovestruck fool, I gazed at my girlfriend for the rest of our meal.

* * *

**I would just like to take a moment to celebrate the fact that even though lockdown has me bored out of my skull and extremely unmotivated, I still got something done. This pleases me.**

**I hope you guys found the date okay. I did my best, but I'm not very experienced at writing that sort of thing, so I'll get better. And now Shintaro and Koneko are officially a couple! I appreciate slow-burn romances, but honestly, unless there's some profound psychological reason for it, I'm not one to have two characters who already like each other drag things out. If they want each other and both are capable of admitting it and seeing that the other loves them (even if Shintaro's nervousness makes him doubt it for a moment), then I see no reason to keep things waiting. Though I am aware that the first arc focused enough on Asia that I had to include more Koneko stuff here to justify it, hence the flashbacks, which I hope you liked.**

**Yes, that was a reference to _Helluva Boss_ during the contract scene. I'm somewhat disappointed in that scene. I wanted to make it funnier, but I couldn't think of anything. Ah well. At least we're back to the plot next time.**

**You may be surprised by the latest addition to the harem.**

**Shintaro: **Koneko Toujou, Akeno Himejima, Kalawarner, Asia Argento, Sona Sitri,

**Issei: **Rias Gremory, Raynare, Mittelt,

**Don't worry about the harems being tipped too far in Shintaro's favour; Issei's will get bigger as we go along. Also, it's just that with the way I'm doing it, one taking over the other now and then is sort of inevitable.**

**Now, before I go, I'll answer the review section.**

**Jacksonion Democracy: **Well, it's like I said above, I see no reason to drag things out when two characters like each other and know they like each other; Shintaro is inexperienced in the ways of romance, but he's learning along with the girls, so naturally he'll be shy about it. Yeah, he's typically a sub because of how emotionally vulnerable he is, which also ties into why he likes to keep himself and others laughing and smiling.

**Clarent excalibur: **Heheh, yeah, that'll be fun to write out.

**MentalForge: **It'll certainly be something, that's for sure.

**Ryujomaru15: **It's not just the bones, but everything in his body. Bone, flesh, blood, hair, and eventually other stuff. As you can see, yes, this chapter was the date.

**TheBlindSalmon: **Thanks. I did initially want Shintaro to fight Dohnaseek. Still, I realised I couldn't do it without taking away Issei's awakening of Boosted Gear, so I settled with Shintaro partaking in a bit of the old Mook Horror Show. The Rating Game will be different from the original, though I won't spoil how. I must respectfully disagree about Gasper – he likes cute things because of Valerie, the cross-dressing itself isn't that big to his character. The fact that he's a shut-in is a more certain aspect of his personality, I think.

**Bigguy45: **Thank you. I'll update whenever I can, but I work every day but weekends, so no guaranteed schedule, I'm afraid. Shintaro's powers will be explained.

**UnsanMusho: **Yeah, as I said, the harems will be unveiled over time, as they're already decided in my notes for the story.

**DanDrake: **Yes, and no. The bone aspect of his powers is undoubtedly similar, but his influence goes beyond just bones.

**dasprofil: **Thank you! I shall!

**A Plexx: **Me, too.

**Vizard Masky: **You might be right, but I won't tell you for definite. Spoilers and such, know what I mean? I came up with the concept myself, but I am taking some inspiration from people with similar powers in other series.

**Guest: **I'll update older stories when I can.

**Oblivious I.J.: **I would agree with you there.

**Chrono trigger: **I will have to disagree with you, respectfully. I think Issei is the closest thing to a realistic teenager we've seen in any harem anime – he thinks with his dick and comes across as kind of dim as a result. He's inexperienced, so that makes him seem like he needs carrying, but he's learning as the series goes on. And he does care about the girls, as evidenced multiple times in the series. I will not give Shintaro the majority of the girls just to spite Issei because I do not hate Issei.

**Oblivious I.J.:** Heheheh, funny.

**Oblivious I.J. (2):** I shan't tell until they appear, haha. But I can tell you it's not Millicas. Just … ew.

**T-B-R:** Don't worry, that'll be addressed. I'm glad you're enjoying it otherwise.

**Jacob1999770777:** You'll just have to wait and see.

**Well, now that that's out of the way, see you guys next time!**


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